Nourished Youth
by Merry Faerie
Summary: Four fraternity brothers will have the course of their romantic lives catalyzed by campus life and one fateful college party. Let the shenanigans begin. Rated M for matriculation. Senshi/Shittenou. AmiZoi, RayeJadeite, LitaNephrite, MinaKunz. AU
1. Prelude

_Hello, hello, and welcome to yet another new story! *murmurs of half-hearted approval* I know, I know, another story, you say? But I promise to be more vigilant in my updating, mainly because I have a lot to draw from, being that I'm living the college experience right now._

_As noted in the summary, this is set in an alternate universe and takes place in the U.S. because I don't know much (read:a single thing) about Japanese universities. And the rating is really only to be safe and some language (and a lot of alcohol consumption). So for you smut-lovers, I apologize in advance._

_The title comes from that term "Alma Mater," which translates to "Nourishing Mother."  
_

_Shitennou Names:_

_Kunzite - Ken (senior)  
Nephrite - Nevan (junior)  
Jadeite - Jed (sophomore)  
Zoisite - Zane (sophomore)_

_And all the girls are sophomores. :)  
_

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Sailor Moon or McDonald's. Or California. I'm the one who wrote it, but I'm still shaking my head: what a combination.  
_

_If you love the Senshi and Shitennou and think you might love college, this is the story for you. Enjoy!

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The Sigma Mu fraternity house was built in 1955, atop a grassy knoll of a hill. Despite its past occupants' attempts to demolish it via bonfires, a rogue wrecking ball, and a brass statue of the university's founder, there it still stood, near the center of Crown University. To hopeful students and present ones alike, the building appeared proud and regal, a vision of whitewashed Grecian columns and a burnt red, brick facade. But ironically, that's just what that dignity was—a facade.

The first morning of the Spring semester saw California sunshine pouring in through the house's arched kitchen windows and two brothers bent over the refrigerator. Their faces bespoke plain discouragement.

The dark-haired one shook his head first. "Un-be-lievable." He stuck a hand tentatively in and pulled out a beer can. Then another. Then another. Then another.

"Do we really have nothing but beer?" Darien asked rhetorically.

"So it would seem," replied Ken. Like his companion, the young man looked to be twenty-two, but his hair was a pale blonde, so pale it appeared silver. He passed a hand through it, sharp green eyes alight with frustration. His broad shoulders sagged for a moment before he sat at the kitchen table, accepting defeat. "Guess we'll have to settle for coffee and beer today."

Darien, though, would not give up so easily. A ray of hope still gleamed. "Hey, hold on, I think I see something else," he said in excitement. He eagerly reached into the fridge again, only to pull out...a sock.

"Oh, EW!" The grey and white object dropped to the tiled floor.

"Looks like Jed's," Ken said dispassionately.

"That is disgusting!" Darien exclaimed. He grimaced as he kicked the sock away like it was contaminated. Which it may well have been.

There was the creak of hardwood from the foyer: the sound of someone descending the winding staircase. Both brothers raised their heads when Nevan entered the kitchen's door-less entrance.

" 'M hungry," he mumbled, still clad in black boxers and a white undershirt. He yawned, stretched a pair of strong, tanned arms and made a bee-line for the fridge.

"Don't bother. There's nothing but beer."

"Lame." A beat. "Is that Jed's sock?"

The group then began to talk seriously of going to either the cafeteria or the campus McDonald's (though they were both _five whole minutes_ away) only to cut their chatter short when an unearthly wail reached their ears. Nevan looked up from scratching his chest in time to see a blonde blur whiz past the open kitchen doorway.

"I'M SOOO LATE!" it shrieked. Before he had all but catapulted out the door, though, the young frat boy backtracked into the kitchen.

"Have you guys ever heard of class?" Zane demanded. Hyped-up as he clearly already was, Zane still felt the his morning coffee merited a little more delay. He almost dropped the whole potful on Ken's head in his haste.

"I scheduled it so I don't have class Mondays," Nevan informed Zane with a grin, leaning back in his chair with hands folded behind his head. "It's gonna be a suh-weet semester." Darien and Ken hid their own smiles as they told Zane they didn't have class till noon.

"You guys suck! And what about Jed; isn't he still sleeping?"

"Yup." For some reason, Nevan's eyebrow twitched with what appeared to be annoyance.

"_He_ doesn't have class either, I suppose?" muttered Zane, a little rancorously.

"No, he does," Nevan said of his roommate. "The idiot's alarm has been going off all morning 'cause he keeps hitting snooze."

"Figures," the other said with a shake of his head. He then gulped down the rest of his coffee, yelped because of the burning heat, and promptly ran out the doorway. The front door slammed in his wake.

The kitchen lay silent for a few seconds, until Darien chose to break it. "Does he know he's still wearing his pajama pants?"

"He will soon enough," Nevan assured him with a wide grin. "Five bucks says he throws a hissy fit when he gets back about how some hot chemistry girl rejected him because of it."

"Hot chemistry girl?" Ken echoed.

Nevan shrugged. "Zane DOES like a good dose of academia in his sex." Darien choked on his coffee at that. Ken didn't bat an eye; only patted Darien's back comfortingly. "Don't worry; sometimes I wonder why we hang out with him, too."

The subject of this compliment only grinned and rose from the chair, announcing he was going to shower. "So none of you bastards better try to beat me to the one with hot water; savvy?" Barefooted and more rejuvenated from the coffee, the brown-haired junior climbed back up the stairs. "Mickey D's, then?" he called over his shoulder.

Before Darien and Ken could reply, yet another blonde whirlwind appeared, this time at the top of the staircase. "Oh, are we going to McDonald's? Awesome!"

"_Now _you decide to wake up," Nevan harrumphed. "And only you would call McDonald's anything but greasy and cheap."

"Which equates to awesome," Jed said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, by the way," his roommate added as he and Jed passed each other on the staircase, "you realize you've missed two classes already, right?"

Jed shrugged, completely unfazed. "Just means it would just be a half-hearted school day if I went to any of the other ones, right?"

"Slacker." Nevan shook his head. He reached the room he and Jed shared just in time to hear the blonde triumphantly shout: "Eureka! That's where my sock went!"

Ultimately, all four of the men were decent and clean enough to leave the house and make their way to scout out their breakfasts. As Jed and Darien argued over the virtues of extra hashbrowns versus extra hot cakes, Nevan spotted a familiar brown ponytail bobbing over the heads of a crowd of sleepy college students.

"Lita!" he called, then waved, moments before leaving his place in line to greet the tall brunette. He wove through the gathering mob of people eating and chatting until he reached Lita. Unbeknownst to him, the girl had actually spotted Nevan first. As she'd waited for him to turn so she could catch his eye, the athletic sophomore had been regarding his muscular back and brown hair out of wistful green eyes. When he'd reached her, instead of asking the ubiquitous, impersonal "How was your break?" Nevan just pulled Lita into a hug. The thing was, the two had texted and Skyped all winter so that Nevan knew exactly how Lita's break had been; in fact he already knew more about how she'd spent it than even some of her girl friends did.

In his embracing her, Nevan didn't see the way Lita's eyes fell closed, didn't realize that her slow, calming breath was to keep herself from nuzzling the brown curls grazing her cheek. "It's great to see you, Leets."

Clearing her throat and trying to grab at some coherent thoughts, Lita offhandedly said: "Even though you just saw me last weekend on Skype." In spite of herself, she allowed a smile to spread across her face as she spoke.

Lita had first met Nevan her freshman year, when an overeager Mina dragged her to the Sigma Mu house for a cookout. He was a sophomore then, an astronomy-physics double major known affectionately as "Wild Man" within Sig-Mu. As she remembered it, Nevan had practically swaggered over to her, but before he had a chance to get his flirt on with this lean, tan, attractive girl, the topic of sports had come up.

"Are you going to the basketball game tonight? The women's team here isn't that bad, actually," Nevan had allowed, fair-minded.

"No, I wouldn't say they are," Lita had replied, a twinkle coming into her eye. Minutes later she found herself head to head with this cocky frat boy in a pick-up game (with Jed forced to hold up a bucket up for their hoop). Needless to say, Lita—who happened to be at Crown on a basketball scholarship—won.

Nevan still hadn't learnt his lesson apparently since now he was asking, a year later: "You up for some basketball later?"

"Yeah Lita, are you up for a little one-on-one?" asked an amused voice. Lita turned and shot Mina—who had just arrived to meet her for brunch—an ugly look. In return, she was only met with a pair of wide baby blue eyes that seemed to say _Did I say something wrong_? Oblivious to all of this, Nevan said a friendly hello to the sorority girl, whose sun-kissed hair and golden tan qualified her to be poster child of California. Mina was a big-city girl from L.A. and the social chair of Sigma Mu's sister sorority, Beta Chi. "How was your winter break, Mina?"

"Super! I had to pay a foot and a nose for it, but I got to visit the big manzana!" Lita didn't appear to meet this news with any surprise. She answered Nevan's baffled expression with a laugh and explanation. "She had to pay a lot for it, but she went to NYC," Lita translated.

By this time, the other Sig-Mu guys had gotten their hands on the three trays of food and were whistling Nevan and the girls over. "Come sit!" Jed urged them. Greetings and questions and laughs were exchanged around the table. "How's Serena doing, Mina?" Darien rushed to ask. Ken was hard put not to roll his eyes at how quickly his serious friend could go into lovestruck puppy mode.

Mina giggled. "Fine, since you brought her home at, let me see-" Mina stopped to tap a manicured finger mock-thoughtfully to her chin "-was it 3 A.M. last night?"

"So that's where you were!" Jed said as Darien turned a suspicious shade of red. "Library, my ass!"

"Oh no—they were definitely visiting the library," Mina said wickedly.

"Spare me," Ken murmured, chomping down on his hashbrown. Mina directed her attention towards him while the others riled Darien about his library exploits.

"How was break, Kenny?"

"It was fine. And don't call me Kenny."

Mina only leered at him through gold lashes. "Aw, I know you like it."

"You know I don't," Ken countered, shaking his head in despair. "But how was _your _break?"

"Fantastic. I went to New York for part of it; did some shopping, saw Broadway plays, skated at Rockefeller—it was great. How about you?"

"Well, I don't _think I_ skated at Rockefeller," he replied, and she could have sworn he was teasing her.

"Maybe some other kind of exciting? Didja hook up with any girls back home?" she quizzed him. It was common knowledge that Ken was a solid, cold rock when it came to girls and relationships. Maybe that was why Mina, at least when it caught her fancy, tried to flirt with him and pull him out of his icy shell. Of course, the fact that he was gorgeous helped too.

"No, I worked a job; as you could very well have done." Unlike Mina, Ken hadn't come straight from the heart of Beverly Hills, silver spoon in mouth. His single mother had worked to the bone for her two boys, cleaning other people's homes and waitressing. It was only with support, grueling commitment to his schoolwork, and a scholarship that Ken had been able to attend Crown U.

It was perhaps natural, then, that Ken held Mina and her frivolity a little in contempt. Except for those moments when the sorority girl bowled him over with warmth and honesty that defied the socialite stereotype.

"Oh la-di-da," Mina responded. "I'll have you know that I volunteer at the children's hospital four times a week at home and three times a week here. Didn't know that, huh?" Mina poked him playfully in the shoulder. She had never been thrown off by Ken's impassive personality or tacit disapproval; it only ever pressed her to dig deeper, push him harder.

The stolid Ken allowed himself a smile. "No, I didn't. Fit right in there, don't you?" Mina squealed at this, inwardly delighting that Ken's wry humor could come out in a flash.

"You girls coming to our welcome back party on Friday?" Jed asked, interrupting the flow of Ken and Mina's interchange.

"I thought last Saturday's party was the welcome back one," Mina answered in confusion.

"Oh, Mina—and you say _I_ don't know about Greek life," Lita sighed, patting her friend on the shoulder. Patiently, she explained to her blonde friend: "Most of the people were probably too drunk to remember that party. So it'll be like this is their first 'welcome back.' Capisce?"

"Hold on one minute," Nevan cut in. "...we had a welcome back party Saturday? Where was I?"

Darien and Ken exchanged looks. "Welcome back, indeed," Ken muttered, as everyone else laughed.

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_Reviewing speeds up the updating process, me lovelies! :) _


	2. Part One: Monday Classes

_Part One: Monday Classes_

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While his friends chowed down leisurely on their sausage and hot cakes breakfast, Zane had not been having quite as good a time. He arrived at his biochemistry lab ten minutes late, which wouldn't have been so bad except for one thing—he was teaching it.

Zane's frat brothers affectionately called him boy-genius, because he was the scholarship kid, the one who'd already had several pieces of fiction and essays published, the one who'd gotten a political science award in high school, one that was usually awarded to grad students. Also that kid who turned out to be more pretty boy than Dungeons and Dragons nerd (though he did like him some D&D once in a while...)

He was a poster child for more than one academic department, including Chemistry. Which was why the Chair had specially requested him as a Teaching Assistant for a Biochemistry lab. _Maybe he should have thought twice about it_, Zane fumed to himself.

Ten students looked up as the frazzled, good-looking blonde burst in unceremoniously, adorned in only a Crown University T-shirt and pajama pants. The group of doctor hopefuls blinked.

"Hey guys!" Zane hurried to sit down and hide his legs under the table before anyone could scrutinize the bug-eyed frogs on his pajamas. He glanced at the wall clock with a rueful smile. "Don't you just hate morning labs?" he joked.

No response.

For a moment, Zane wondered if the day's lab involved dissecting live crickets, since he could have sworn he could hear a few.

"Anyway, sorry I'm late. I'm Zane, by the way." He tried to break the ice a little further. "Measuring in at a whopping 5'10, I'm a sophomore and _your_ lab TA! Woohoo," he mock-cheered, grinned 'round—then wondered if it was possible to feel like the dorkiest person in a room of pre-meds and biochemistry majors. "Ahem. Why don't we go around and introduce ourselves?"

He nodded encouragingly after each banal introduction, silently committing everyone's name to memory until they'd reached the last girl, who was seated at his right elbow. "I'm Amy Anderson," she said in a soft voice that sounded like a silver bell.

"AA, huh?" he quipped. "Keep away from the ethanol."

She froze, and Zane was suddenly petrified that he'd offended her. But then she laughed softly. "Well, never heard that one before."

Zane grinned, then realized he was already fifteen minutes behind schedule, and set to work acquainting the group with lab protocols ("I get to see your bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every week!") and safety and how not to catch your hand on fire and/or spray yourself with toxic chemicals.

"Cause if you do, I'm going to have to make you take off your clothes and hop in the shower-" He stopped short in of pointing to the lab shower, upon realizing how bad that sounded. "I mean...well that _is _what I mean, but-but you know what I mean. Right?" he said helplessly.

The students nodded uncertainly. One girl with curly black hair looked as if she hoped Zane meant something else altogether. She gazed at him dreamily, chin in her hand.

"I promise I'm not trying to sexually harass anyone," Zane assured them, panicking. Amy coughed beside him and he could have sworn she was trying not to smile that subtle smile of hers. "Yes, well, let me just assign your partners and show you this safety video, and we're done for the day!"

To make it easier on himself, Zane passed around a sheet of paper for people to sign their names next to that of their partner-aka, the person they were sitting next to. It wasn't the most high-tech method, but hey, it worked.

Zane glanced back over at Amy, partly because the guy on his other side was...well, a guy, and therefore less interesting. But he found a few more reasons to keep his attention on the girl.

Because in giving her a second glance, he saw that she was pretty darned cute, a sight more than the bespectacled boy (not that he had anything against glasses, but there _was_ a way to be fashionable about buying them, right?). Amy had pulled a notebook out and begun scribbling notes, though he hadn't the vaguest idea what she could be writing. Being a straight to the the point kind of guy he asked her.

"Is my lecturing that interesting already?"

"What? Oh, I-it's more habit than anything, sorry."

"No, don't apologize. I have a thing for girls that are diligent in their note-taking." Zane could have smacked his forehead for the comment. The fact that it was true didn't make it okay for him to say it to a pretty girl.

Amy opened her mouth, but didn't know how to reply to such a comment. Was her TA...flirting with her?

Before he could confirm the suspicion, Zane had raised his voice to review appropriate attire during lab. Which a few students found pretty hilarious.

"So pajamas are okay?"

Zane felt his face become a little flushed, but ultimately nodded, cracking a smile. "Encouraged, almost. I want you guys to be comfortable. Okay, if no one has any more questions or wisecracks about my clothes, let me show you this ancient safety video. I know, very exciting."

When the twenty-year-old film had finally come to a close, the lab students filed out of the room, a few of them murmuring something about "crazy sophomores." As Amy put her notebook away—though heaven knew why she'd been taking notes—Zane impulsively found himself saying: "So, we didn't get to hear what your year was or anything."

The girl looked up in surprise and Zane was caught off-guard by her startlingly big, blue eyes and dark, dark lashes. "I'm a sophomore, too."

"Yeah? That's pretty young to be taking biochem."

Amy gave him a frank, pointed look and he laughed his merry laugh. "Yeah, I know, I've obviously already taken it; but that's 'cause I was here for the summer session."

"Still, to be a TA, that's a big deal."

"Must be, huh?" Her brow puckered at this cockiness and he hurried to say, "But I guess the two of us are the kids here," Zane laughed awkwardly. He looked down at his pajama pants, patting one of the frogs. "Man, I am so not the "cool" TA I thought I'd be," he joked.

Amy mistook the comment for a serious one. "Oh no, I'm sure it's not as bad as you think." She hesitated. "In fact, my lab partner kept whispering about how um, well..." Amy trailed off, a blush coming into her face.

"How?"

Steeling herself, Ami continued: "How uh c-cute you were—are." She didn't meet his eye.

For some reason, Zane found the blush in Amy's cheeks much more endearing than the gushings of her lab partner. Amy hurried to shoulder her book bag, wondering what had come over her to say that.

"I'll see you next lab, Amy" Zane called as she bustled out.

Little knowing it would actually be even sooner than that.

* * *

Despite Jed's casual decision to skip class the rest of the day, he decided to at least go to his last Monday seminar-which took place at the most agreeable time of 2:30. Having scarfed down a health lunch of cheesesteak sandwiches, the blonde walked towards the building that housed the History department. His "Ancient Civilizations" class had been a whim of his; Jed was a sociology major and though he cared more for modern history and studies, he figured this course could be interesting.

He discovered just how wrong he was a mere five minutes into the lecture. The syllabus was freaking LONG. That was the intellectual deciding factor when it came to staying in a class. Plus, the teacher wasn't even fun to look at, being a stooping British man who spoke slowly and sounded like he had marbles in his mouth. Jed began to scribble on his copy of the syllabus. He doodled, drawing stars and squiggles and ultimately, a miniature dragon. He leaned his head back to admire his handiwork— but a little too far because it caused him to accidentally hit the person behind him with his own head.

"Ouch," whispered the girl.

"Sorry," Jed apologized. He was about to turn around to repeat the apology when the professor caught his eye and frowned darkly. Jed ducked his head and tried to follow along in the syllabus. His eyes fell to the subheading that read "Tests."

Three midterms! A term only had ONE middle, not three!

"Ridiculous," Jed muttered. Nothing was going to keep him from dropping this class as soon as he could.

"No kidding," murmured the girl whose head he'd hit.

Jed turned around this time to throw a grin in his like-minded peer's direction, but that wasn't quite what he ended up doing. He turned all right, and began to smile, but stopped dead in when his eyes reached the girls' face. And every word he could have said was caught in his throat, except for one.

Beautiful.

"Exc_use_ me?" the girl whispered, clearly affronted.

Had he said that out loud?

...Who cared?

Her face looked as if the Greeks themselves had sculpted it out of marble. Smooth, classic lines, a pixie nose that led up to dark eyes. She looked like a "Wasian" mix, with her delicately wrought features and indigo eyes too big and blue-tinged to belong to someone who was all Oriental. Her hair was an unwavering sheet of obsidian black, worn loose down her back. She had turned the edges of coral lips into an hard, unamused frown, but that just intrigued him more.

A single thought reverberated in Jed's head now: he was definitely not dropping the class.

The perfect girl drew her eyebrows down into a more defined frown. She rose up out of her desk, looking almost majestic doing it. Jed gave a start as he realized that the teacher had finished with his preparatory lecture and class was over. Before the girl could walk out, though, Jed held out a hand.

"Hold on. What's your name?"

She looked down her nose at him—literally. "See you Wednesday."

With that she started making her way to the door, but Jed wouldn't allow those to be her parting words. He scurried after her. "Cute," he allowed, "but seriously, what is it? I'm Jed," he informed her with a suave smile.

They were outside by this time, and the sun filtering through a nearby tree fell across her shoulder, illuminating her white blouse and khaki skirt, just the right length for him to appreciate her creamy thighs and toned calves. She turned to look at him and he was momentarily taken aback by the unmistakeable dislike in her eyes.

It seemed to say: _Typical man._

"It's Raye," she said shortly. "And I have class, so if you'll excuse me."

He did, not especially put off by her demeanor. More intrigued than anything. His lips quirked and he walked back to the house, humming "I'm a Believer."


	3. Part Two: Monday Afternoon

_I know it's been a while, but I am attached to this story line, so it definitely will be updated more regularly. Hope you enjoy!_

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Ken's family and friends had high expectations for his future. The second-semester senior was a nod away from graduation and had already gotten a few early offers from some prestigious business schools, not to mention a more or less promised full ride to Wharton. It wasn't too surprising to the Sig Mu brothers, with Nevan promising to be Ken's "first customer" on Wall Street and Jed once sneaking Ken a whole Grey Goose bottle in the hopes that "I'll be repaid in the form of someone's overlooking tax fraud...that may or may not be mine. " Though he would have liked to tell these lost causes that Wall Street brokers didn't have "customers" nor were they in charge of Jed's taxes...he did have a weak spot for Grey Goose...

He was fully qualified for all of it, of course (the vodka included). Founder of two clubs, summer internships at companies like Goldman-Sachs -the guy had experience coming out of his ears. Which was why it was understandable that he was currently meeting Darien's eager smile with a dumbfounded expression.

"So...red Solo Cups or blue Solo cups?" Darien prompted again, figuring Ken hadn't heard him. He waved the two packets of cups for effect.

"Are you joking?"

The dark-haired co-ed made a face. "I wish. It's for the party Friday. Andrew is keeping me here against my will so I can make crucial decisions like "pink vs. purple tiny umbrellas" and "peppermint or peach schnapps."

"I like peach," Ken asserted unexpectedly.

Darien raised an eyebrow, then comically swiped a hand across his forehead. "Whew! What a relief that I have you here to help me make these tough decisions in my time of need."

"Uhum, excuse me but I'm not the one treating the red-blue solo cup debacle like a U.N. peace treaty."

"I dunno dude, relations with Beta Chi can be quite tricky sometimes."

"Psh, I fake issue with that!" a voice sounded from behind.

Even without turning around Ken knew exactly who'd dropped by for a visit.

"Hey Mina," Darien greeted. Ken nodded her way as she entered the kitchen, practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

"What can we do you for?" asked Darien as he sheepishly pushed the solo cups to the side.

"Gentlemen, I need life advice," sighed Mina. "So I decided to seek out some wise and powerful seniors for help."

"Hmm, sounds really deep...but I actually have to run," Darien apologized, his eyes bugging when he saw the time on his watch.

"Headed to the library eh?"

"Er well yeah..."

"Funny, I think Serena just headed over there." Mina said, as if in realization. "You're such a good influence Darien; it's already her second time there, wow," she said in mock-approval.

"This semester?" Ken supplied helpfully, upon catching the twinkle in Mina's eye.

"This lifetime, actually."

Blushing to the tips of his ears, Darien still had enough dignity to swat both friends in the heads and scurry out the door, blatantly ignoring Mina's urging that he "Have fun checking out a book with Serena! Just don't wear her out and check out TOO many."

Ken couldn't help a small smile in answer to Mina's mirthful one.

"Oh, young love," she sighed, clasping her hands together dramatically. "It just gets to you, huh?"

Ken shrugged. "Personally, it gives me a toothache. So, uh, what was this advice you needed?"

Nevan tossed his basketball to the side of the indoor court, clearly unable to tamp down a proud smile.

"Good game."

Lita found herself unable to reply-or even say anything intelligible. She was facing a struggle in expression herself, though one of a completely different and covert kind. The reason being-Nevan had just peeled off, as if in slow motion, his admittedly sweaty T-shirt.

"Um, yup!"

Her friend arched an eyebrow in her direction. That response had been oddly squeaky.

Recovering a little, Lita amended, "I mean, yeah, only because I let you win." She was seated in the lower stands and averted her eyes on the pretext of tying a rogue shoelace.

"What did you say?" Nevan was suddenly looming over her in all his half-naked glory and she thought she would die. She found herself trapped, as he'd clapped his hands on either side of her seat and looked her dead-straight in the face.

"Y-you heard me," she managed to get out. No big deal, Lita. The guy you're totally in love with is just hovering over you with his godly glistening body and flashing chestnut eyes and and...guh...

"So you let me win, eh?"

"Guh..." Okay, yes big deal. This was torture. Sweet, sweet torture.

"Well, Lita, I have a new game for you."

"..."

Nevan leaned even closer to Lita, not quite sure what he was doing himself; only knowing that he was taking some odd pleasure out of this. But Nevan never was one to overanalyze (or analyze, really), so he pushed that doubt aside. He just moved closer to whisper into her ear: "Want to know what that game is?"

"S-sure." A slight shiver went through her spine.

"TAG! You're it!"

"Wha-you are such a weirdo!"

"But so much faster than you!"

"Oh, you wish!" Lita countered, scrambling out of her seat to chase him down the court.

Mina had matriculated into Crown with little to no idea of what she wanted to do when she graduated. She'd modeled in high school and was quick to join Crown's musical theater group, but frivolous as she was, she'd been certain that there was something else out there for her. That there was something more she could with her life.

"Start a fashion line?" Ken repeated in disbelief. "Are you crazy?"

A stubborn pout rose to Mina's lips. "It's not so crazy. That's why I'm switching to a business major." She beamed.

"And how do I fit in here?" the other wanted to know. Though Ken himself was a business major, he still didn't see what help he could offer her.

Mina bent over the arm of the couch to fish her laptop from a vivid orange shoulder bag. "I need some help choosing new classes, since my Drama major classes are obviously not going to work for me. I was hoping you could recommend some?" Before Ken could even open his mouth in reply, Mina said, "Great!" and found the school website they used to add and drop their courses.

The two were now comfortably seated in the Sigma Mu house living room, a large open space with mint green and navy couches and a big TV so precious to the brothers that they'd named it "Andy," after the frat's president, Andrew Foreman. At that very moment, Andrew himself passed by.

"Hey! Mina!" he greeted with a sunny smile.

"Andrew!"

Andrew made his way to the couch to give the girl a friendly, one-armed hug. His emerald green eyes smiled as he took a seat next to her and they'd exchanged the pleasantries of "How was your break?" "Awesome, how was yours?". After glancing at the class change site she'd logged onto, he joked: "Changing your major again?"

Mina had to resist the desire to hit Ken, whom she'd felt stiffen with stifled laughter. "Um, yes actually."

"Oh..." Andrew paused taken aback, "Cool!"

Mina giggled, swatting Andrew's arm playfully. "Don't give me that. But you might be interested to know I'm switching to business." Andrew was a business major as well.

"That is cool!"

Ken saw this as his way out. "Super cool! Andrew can help choose fashion classes for you now." He rose halfway off the sofa only to be yanked back down, with surprising strength, by Mina.

"Oh, no you don't."

"Fashion classes?" Andrew asked in some alarm.

Once more, Mina explained her new and improved life plan (probably the fifteenth she'd come up with in the the last few weeks) whilst Ken leaned back against the couch, clearly bored. With a sigh, he took Mina's computer from her lap, and quickly began searching through the website for classes.

"You're going to have to take Stats and Econ as prerequisites," he told her when she demanded to know what he was doing. He clicked the checkboxes from time to time and added them to her electronic bookbag. "You should probably take Finance 53 and maybe 'Business and Public Policy', too." Mina watched, half-smiling at his business-like tone and look of concentration.

"I'd also take Marketing and Management with Professor Ingelheim," Andrew chipped in.

"Can you add Spanish?"

"Eh?" the two men said in unison.

"Oh, wait!" Mina said in realization. "I forgot to add that I want my fashion company to be a business in the Dominican Republic that offers a real living wage to female workers, didn't I?"

Ken blinked and Andrew, after a pause, laughed. "Expect the unexpected with Mina, I guess. That's awesome, Mina," he said, while Ken in the meantime was muttering, "All I can remember from her conversation was her going on about how white was the new black...over and over..."

Mina shrugged her elegant shoulders. "I told you I was finding my calling. By the way, Crown is buying from some companies that contract sweatshops, which is a big no-no, so you guys will be helping me demonstrate at some point." The boys both opened their mouths uncertainly. "Ooh, and we can have a kissing booth to raise money for United Students against Sweatshops!" Andrew promptly shut his mouth. Ken just blinked again.

Mina glanced at Ken in particular and fluttered her lashes. "Would you give to the cause in that case, Ken?" she posed, leaning against him a little provocatively. In spite of himself, the stolid senior cleared his throat

Andrew chuckled. "Better watch out, Mina, or you really will have Ken falling for you."

"Oh, he already has, he just doesn't know it." Mina patted Ken's bicep as if he were the pet and she the owner.

Ken rose. "Har-har. That's my cue to leave you girls to gossip about me." For that, Ken got two couch cushions thrown straight at the back of his head.

As Nevan and Lita trekked down the path from the basketball court, Nevan lazily mused that his companion was one of the few girls who could keep up with his walking pace. Must be those long legs, he thought, his eyes resting on her tanned legs, glistening now under the orange-rose light of the setting sun.

"Are you _ogling_my legs?"

He started guiltily. "Wha—no! Just, um, appreciating what a good walker you are." Internally, he smacked his forehead. That sounded lame, even coming from him.

Lita cocked an eyebrow at that, but only giggled and said: "Never heard that one before."

She could have sworn she detected a slight flush coming over his cheeks, and she couldn't help the hope swelling inside her. Was it happening finally? Was he seeing her as someone besides his basketball partner, his arm-wrestling buddy, after all?

It's not that she was impatient for him to see her in a new light, exactly. Lita had always been a patient person. Her records in rebounds in high school hadn't come with luck, but determination, practice, a steadfast grit. She had a love for gardening, too, and she adored tending to the green buds that would eventually become roses and lilies of the valley for weeks or months if need be-because she lived for the end-result. The happy ending for her garden was always a dazzle of beautiful color and texture. And she'd waited a long time for Nevan to realize that his best friend was the one he'd been waiting for, standing right next to him, a la Watts in "Some Kind of Wonderful." She could handle the wait if need be, because she knew that spring, that dazzle of color, was waiting for her once the light went off in that somewhat dense brain of his.

But if he was _finally_ _seeing her,_after all...her heart jumped at the thought.

The path to the dorms curved now, and they stopped at a bench to take swigs of water from their bottles and watch the sun slowly touch the red roofs of the buildings.

"Want to do come to the house and do homework together?" Nevan offered nonchalantly.

She raised her eyes to his profile in disbelief. "Homework—on the first day of school? Um, translation, please?"

"Hey, man, maybe I do really want to do homework; I take my studies seriously!" he said indignantly.

She continued to give him a pointed stare.

"Fine," Nevan muttered, "Do you want to come pretend to do homework but actually play Super Smash Brothers with me?"

"That's more like it," Lita said in an approving way. "Sure, I-"

"Nevan, hey!"

The two looked up to see a dainty girl with curly red-brown hair walk over from the direction of the Beta Chi house.

"Molly, hi!"

Lita couldn't help glancing the girl over; last semester, Nevan had mentioned his physics lab partner in passing, but he'd never mentioned that she was a cute sorority girl. The two settled into a conversation about classes and break and yada yada, but Lita feigned indifference and returned to drinking her water.

"You coming to our welcome-back party this weekend?" Nevan asked.

Molly grinned. "Didn't you have one last weekend?"

"Oh yeah, but uh, I wasn't there, really."

"I saw you there!"

"I think he means Mr. Tequila influenced his memory a little. A lot," Lita put in.

"Very funny." Nevan nudged Lita with her elbow as if to say "knock it off." "Yes, okay, I blacked out so I don't remember the party at all."

Molly gave a high-pitched giggle. "Oh, Molly this is Lita, Lita, Molly," he introduced.

After a few minutes, Molly tripped away, but paused for second. "Nevan, have you worked on the physics homework yet?"

He shook his head. "Nope; want to work on it together?" he offered. Lita's head snapped up.

She smiled: "Meet you in the library reading room?"

"See you there in a bit."

Nevan smiled after her retreating figure, eyes moving, as Lita observed with disgust, up her legs and to her backside. Lita herself stayed quiet as they rose from the bench in unison. "I'll catch up with you tomorrow, 'kay Lita?"

"Fine."

Eyes still on Molly, Nevan turned the wrong way, and accidentally stepped on Lita's foot.

"Oh sorry, Lita—didn't even see you there."

* * *

_Please review! :) _


	4. Part Three: Monday Eveningish

_Next chapter, ho! Read on, and please review if you have time :) _

* * *

Raye couldn't bite back a smile as she watched her roommate bend to peer at the small, white placards pasted to each bookshelf. The university bookstore bustled at the beginning of every semester, but Raye would bet her pet finch that this was at least Amy's third visit to the store in the past 24 hours.

"Amy, how many times have you been here today?" Raye casually asked, as she flipped through her new history book on Greek civilization. Though she wasn't looking forward to the three midterms this "Ancient Civilizations" course had to offer, Raye had to admit that she couldn't wait to bury her nose in this historical essay collection.

Ami glanced up from her perusal long enough to reply, "Just once."

"Really?"The other girl looked like her eyes were ready to bug out.

"Oh, wait...did you mean how many times have I come alone or with a friend?"

"Er, total, Ames."

"Oh. In that case, um," here she began muttering to herself "—at 7:30 when it opened, after lab to get my manual, after biochem lecture to get a more updated manual..."

"Amy."

"Five. Er," her forehead scrunched in recollection, "six."

Raye laughed. "You have a problem. I don't know what the equivalent of AA is for bookworms, but we may need to take you there, pronto."

Ami took the ribbing good-naturedly, and gave Raye a sheepish smile. She then rose from the lower bookshelf with surprising grace, considering she was balancing two thick volumes of prose and a microbiology textbook in her arms. "Strange. That's the second time someone's mentioned AA to me today.

Her companion, who had been shaking her head at Amy's load of books, stopped short. "Seriously?" She studied her shy, petite friend in interest. "Are you a closet alcoholic or something?"

Amy shook her dark bangs out of her eyes as they walked to the cash register. "My lab TA made a quip about how my initials are AA and I should stay away from the ethanol." In spite of herself, Amy smiled.

She was met with a confused stare from Raye.

"Ethanol is alcohol, Raye."

Raye only shook her head. "You and your science lingo. Give me history or a novel any day." She glanced back at Amy's books. "Though it looks like you're exploring English, too, huh?" she said, indicating the short story collections Amy had perched on top of her stack. Amy was a biology-chemistry double major, and Raye had yet to see any books on her desk that didn't rave about things like "electron transfer" and "superior vena cava."

The shorter girl shrugged nonchalantly (a difficult feat given her book load). "I thought I'd try this fiction class...med schools require a year of English, anyway."

Her friend looked skeptical. "Uh-huh. Don't think I haven't seen you curled up in bed with Whitman and Tolstoy. You might just be coming over to my side after all."

After paying for their books, the girls began to make their way back to the dorms. This involved walking past the rows of Crown's fraternity and sorority houses, monumental-looking buildings with pillars and red brick galore. A few had large wooden benches outside them, painted with the fraternity or sorority's Greek letters. The day was warm and bright, and a group of frat boys tossed a football outside one of the houses, while their brothers sat on a bench drinking beer and laughing loudly.

"Hey!" one of them–looking like he was already tipsy, though it was five in the afternoon—yelled.

Amy and Raye continued walking as if they hadn't heard. "Hey girls, come have a beer with us!"

"I can't believe Serena likes their company," Raye said in some disgust as they hurried away, leaving behind obnoxious laughs and yells. "I'm pretty sure they have a lower IQ than my grandpa's dog."

Amy glanced at her friend without saying anything. She knew Raye wasn't the biggest fan of men, particularly frat guys, but she had never learned why. She'd always supposed Raye had had bad run-ins with them freshman year. Amy hadn't known her until they were randomly paired up as roommates this year, so she couldn't say for sure.

Recalling the Greek letters on her TA's T-shirt, Amy heard herself saying, "I don't think they're all dumb, though. My biochemistry TA's in a fraternity."

As she balanced her plastic bag of books to swipe her card into the dorm, Raye eyed Amy curiously. That was the second time she had mentioned her biochem TA. Raye looked like she was about to prod her friend further, but thought better of it. "I guess..."

"Plus, Darien's in a fraternity."

"Alright, I get your point; Darien is halfway decent, I guess," Raye laughed. Darien, Raye, and Serena all hailed from the same California town a few miles from Crown, and had known one another for years. Raye lived with her grandfather back home, a man who, though verging on 70, deemed Raye the one with the "old soul." When Serena and Darien began dating her senior year, Raye felt like the odd person out and dove into history and archaeology. She had always had a penchant for digging into the past, as it were, and had spent the previous summer on an archaeology dig in Jordan. Besides, the college social scene didn't hold the appeal for her she'd thought it might, especially her first year. Everyone else was more interested in their next hook-up than anything else, and those parties—they were all sweaty and reeked with old alcohol. No, Raye looked elsewhere for entertainment, and preferred her group of friends to Greek life.

Back in their room finally, the girls dropped their heavy bags with sighs of relief. Amy, being Amy, immediately began to organize and shelve her textbooks while Raye hopped onto her bed and got out her laptop.

As she browsed through Facebook, the chat window opened up.

_Serena: Heya! I saw you on the way to class talking to a guy I know! Jed?_

Jed? Oh, the blonde guy who'd tried to hit on her. Figured Serena would know him. Ten to one he was a frat guy from ATG or something.

_Raye: I don't know him._

_Serena: Ok, but please tell me you were flirting :p _

_Raye: Gross. The kid was a little creepy. _

_Serena: He's my cousin..._

Oops.

_Raye: Sorry, meant to write "sleepy," haha..I didn't know your cousin went here? _

_Serena: Well, second cousin. He's from out-of-state so I didn't see him much before college. _  
_You sure you didn't like him? I could introduce you properly :)_

_Raye: I'm good. _

_Serena: Lol, don't worry, I know that's Raye-speak for no way in hell. _  
_Dinner tonight? _

_Raye: Sure. 8?_

_Serena: K; tell Amy, too. I'm headed to the library, so I'll see ya. _

_Raye: Ew, Serena. Mina told me what that means._

* * *

Zane entered the bedroom he shared with Ken with something like a pout on his face. The senior raised his eyes to peer at Zane over his thin-rimmed reading glasses. He watched silently as the golden-haired sophomore dropped his backpack to the floor and threw himself onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. A long, dramatic sigh escaped him.

Ken just turned back to his reading as if nothing had happened.

"Nice pants," was all he said.

Zane's arms remained sprawled out across his comforter, but he snapped his head to shoot Ken a dirty look. "Asshole."

Ken couldn't help releasing a chuckle. "Okay, drama queen, tell me what terrible thing is gnawing away at you. Did you set a biochem student on fire? Or did a professor just give you an A- on your summer essay?"

"Neither! Or, well, my poetry professor gave me a check on my in-class assignment. A check!"

"I'm guessing he gives that to everybody, Zane. Check means pass, minus means fail?"

Zane rose so he was kneeling dramatically on his bed as he explained. "That poem would have brought you to tears, Ken. It would have made you walk out into the world determined to find your muse, your Mona Lisa, your Josephine, your-"

"Alright, alright, spare me, Emily Bronte. Is this all because of the poem?"

Zane looked hesitant to continue. Ken was not very sympathetic when it came to girl problems. Not that this was really a problem, but...

"Well, it's about-"

"-a girl," Ken finished without missing a beat.

Zane rushed to get it out before Ken, annoyingly omniscient as he was, could interrupt. He told him about the cute girl-genius in his lab and how her first impression of him, probably burned into her mind forever, would be the flustered kid in frog-printed pajama pants.

Ken was spared a play-by-play when Jed entered, also looking concerned about something. Ken looked up expectantly. "Is something wrong, Jed?"

"Yeah, there is," he said solemnly, and real concern flitted across his friends' faces. Jed then held up a single white sock. "Have you guys seen my other sock? I lost it again!" he wailed.

Zane made a funny sound that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a cough. Ken only rolled his eyes. "Try the toaster? Or maybe the blender."

Instead of taking offense, Jed nodded. "Good idea." His eyes rested on Zane's frog-covered legs. "Haha, how'd lab go Zane? Did you sweep your students off your feet with your fashion statement?"

His only answer was a groan from beneath the pillow Zane had promptly smashed onto his face. Ken shook his head.

"Touchy subject, I see." Jed took the seat at Zane's desk. "How 'bout you Ken? You probably had a pretty embarrassment-free day."

He was correct, considering Ken—towering at over six feet, with his serious, and usually unsmiling face—was about as easy to laugh at as an avalanche. Ken and Jed idly talked about their first day of classes while Zane listened in, still hidden by his white pillow. It was comfortable for Ken, though, being here in the house with his brothers, and for a moment he felt a pang. To think this was his last semester at Crown.

No such anxieties were on Jed's mind since, as Ken mentioned Mina's visit in passing, he promptly said, "Mina, huh? That girl is _hot_."

Ken appeared unfazed, but inwardly felt himself bristle. "I suppose."

"You suppose? Ken, are you blind?"

"No, I just don't eat, drink, and sleep (emphasis on sleep) girls like you all do," he countered, almost with a snap.

Jed slumped back into his chair. "That reminds me: today I met THE most..._gorgeous_ girl I've ever seen on campus."

Zane perked up at this. "Not 'hot?' Or 'smokin'?"

"Or 'I'd tap that' material?"

This gave Jed pause, but he slowly shook his head. "Naw, she was just...really beautiful."

Ken and Zane met each other's looks. This was new for Jed. Normally he'd be rating her hotness on a scale of 1 to 10 by now.

"She wasn't super friendly, though." Ah. This, his brothers knew, meant she'd rejected him flat. "I dunno, man, I think she might be gay."

That would be a first for Jed. A pretty girl so impervious to his charms she'd be considered unattainable.

Zane was the first to crack up. "Sorry, man, but that totally beats my pajama problem!"

Ken was more serious about it. "Just because she doesn't like you, doesn't mean she's gay, Jed. Just smart."

"Har har, thanks a lot, Ken. Well, whatever, I'll try again next class. Now I'm off to find my sock; wish me luck!"

The door swung shut him. "I'm seriously starting to think our kitchen's a biohazard," Zane muttered as he rolled around on his bed. "God, I don't even want to eat. Except that I'm really, really hungry."

Ken nudged his roommate to get him off his bed. "Let's get some dinner from off-campus, then, genius."

"Okay. I think Nevan's out, but should we ask Darien?"

Ken gave a cough. "Darien is...otherwise occupied."

"Library with Serena again? So scandalous," Zane said with a wicked grin.

* * *

Darien blamed Serena for the idea. He, after all, was an upstanding college student—pre-med, neuroscience major, and hopefully graduating magna cum laude at this rate. He would never in a hundred years have thought this shenanigan up. What if he got caught?

But Serena...well, Serena was hard to resist. "It's an unofficial graduation requirement," she reminded him. The little temptress in her came out then, causing him to gulp as she said, "And I know how you like fulfilling requirements."

It was true that this was an unofficial graduation requirement (as was sex in the Crown president's office, but that was going a little too far...). Maybe his university expected this of him?

The "temptress's" small nose bumped against his as she leaned up to give him a soft kiss. Serena then rested her head against the shelf that housed the unabridged collection of _Encyclopedia Britannica_. "Told you no one comes down to the reference section."

"This early in the year," Darien corrected, though he slipped his arm around his girlfriend to pull her closer into his body heat. He also pulled the down blanket they'd brought more tightly around them, as if that would make the scene less indecent, should someone happen upon them in this corner of the library. "Can't believe we did this," he said.

Serena giggled. "Don't tell me you regret it?"

Her boyfriend looked down at her, with her long, blonde hair a little disheveled and blue eyes lit up from the exertion. "This is the second time we've done this. Clearly, I enjoyed something about the first."

He sighed, and rested his head on hers, not wanting to get up, though that would certainly have to happen. The library security guard passed by here every three hours, after all.

"Darien?"

"Mm?" he said drowsily.

"Have you ever thought that maybe our friends would be really good—"

"No."

"Darien!"

"I know what you're going to say, Sere, and-"

"So you have thought about it!" she cried.

"Only from spending so much time with you and Mina, aka Matchmakers'R'Us."

"Ooh, that's catchy."

"Oh, God."

"Seriously, though, our friends would be _perfect_ for each other and you know it."

"Exactly whom are you referring to? I have a lot of friends," he said loftily.

"Well, Nevan and Lita, of course-"

"Yeah, if Nevan weren't so blind-"

"Mina and Ken-"

"I don't know about th-"

"Oh, and how about Zane and that girl-genius that lives with Raye, Ami!"

"Serena, I'm sure they've seen each other around and I don't think any sparks flew."

"But has it been under the right circumstances?"

"What are the right circumstances?"

"I mean...it depends."

"So "right" is subjective? So some people might not think that the fact that we've spent pretty much every waking moment of our lives with each other-"

"-means that we're right for each other? What are you trying to say, Darien?" Serena's voice sounded dangerously low.

"That I...love you?"

"Aw, you're super sweet. And transparent. But don't you think-"

"Serena, don't start butting into people's lives. Life doesn't work like that; you can't force people to like each other."

"I would never d-"

"Serena. Promise you won't. I remember what happened last year, when you tried to set your lab partner up with your tutor?"

"Aw, how was I supposed to know they were related? But oh my god, I just remembered that I saw Raye with Jed earlier today—"

"Serena!"

"Fine, fine, I promise I won't do matchmaking. But you know what I will do—lay a wager with you."

"What?" He looked taken off-guard.

"I bet you that our friends will get together eventually, even without my help. That things will just...fall naturally into place. Fate."

"Oh I am so down for that bet. Name your stakes, milady and prepare to lose," Darien prompted with a cat-like grin.


	5. Part Four: Monday Evening

Another chapter on our beloved Greeks! Enjoy and please review :)

* * *

"Hm, I thought my friend was coming to dinner with us, too, but she says she's studying physics?" Serena snapped her cell phone shut with a puzzled frown. "That's weird. Molly hates physics. You guys remember Molly, right?"

Ami nodded immediately, but Raye, with her usual, uncomfortable forthrightness replied, "Honestly, Sere, all your sorority sissies blur together after awhile. Plus, they all seem to be named Molly or Becky or Lexi."

Instead of taking offense, "Sere" just looked to the heavens for patience with her spitfire of a friend. She recommended that Raye "hush up" and grab her a slice of pepperoni. No, the bigger piece, please.

The girls shuffled down the dining hall line and paid for their dinners with few hang-ups-except for the five near-klutz attacks Serena suffered before they'd even set their trays down. Though as Serena proudly pointed out, in the old days, those would have been five complete wipeouts, thank you very much.

"Yeah, you're a regular prima ballerina now," Raye said, right as Serena's water glass took on a life of its own and jumped out of her hands. Amy deftly caught the glass, only managing to spill a few drops. She'd had a lot of practice catching glassware after being around Serena so much.

"Great catch, Amy!" Serena applauded, ignoring Raye's sarcasm.

As they all sat down, Serena cut to the chase. "So, Ames, Raye mentioned you mentioning a cute science TA of yours. What's the scoop there?"

Raye slapped their petite friend on the back—Serena's question had caused Amy to promptly choke on her iced tea.

Amy inhaled and shot Raye a look. "I never mentioned he was cute."

"But isn't he?" asked Serena, looking like she would be unreasonably disappointed if he weren't.

Amy didn't answer. "Raye had a guy hit on her today," she said lamely, hoping to steer the conversation away from herself.

"Yeah, yeah and the sun came out as per usual. Same old, same old. But the notion of Amy babbling on about a hunky TA-"

"I was not babbling! Honestly."

She turned back to her food. Then realized that her friends were still watching her expectantly. Amy sighed.

"It really is nothing, guys. Nothing at all. My lab partner was the one gossiping about how cute the guy was, but I hardly noticed. Not that I'd be concerned about anything so superficial, anyway," she added, not without accusation.

"Fine, Amy, we give for now. What's his name, by the way?" Serena asked off-handedly as she mentally turned to questions for Raye about Jed. Maybe that had more potential.

"Zane."

This time, Serena was the one to choke on her drink.

Completely unconscious of the fact that his name was being tossed around by "that cute biochem student", Zane's attention was instead focused on the road before him...and on swatting Jed's hand away from the radio.

"Come on, Zane, this music kind of blow-"

"My car, my music, Jed. If you'd offered to drive, then _maybe_ you could have...well, actually, no we'd still be listening to my music."

In a voice that sounded disturbingly similar to that of a child whining to his mother, Jed called to Ken in the back seat, "Ken, can you _please_ tell Zane that the _passenger_ is in charge of the radio? God, this is so unfair."

"Life's not fair, Jed," Ken replied dispassionately, not looking up from the accounting book he'd brought along. That was a parental thing to say, right?

"Aw, you always take his side," Jed said with a pout. He crossed his arms and sank back into his seat.

Zane merely snickered to himself, then asked: "So, what do you guys want to e-"

"PIZZA!" yelled out Jed, causing both Zane and Ken to jump out of their seats.

"Jesus, Jed, scale it back a few decibels. And really, pizza?"

"Um, _yeah_," said Jed as if Zane were insane to doubt his idea.

"The McDonald's and pizza diet. It's a wonder no one's attached you to a hot air balloon basket yet."

"I know, you probably wonder how I keep such a great figure, huh?" said Jed proudly.

There was a silence.

"What?" Jed asked.

More silence.

Silence. Silence. Silence.

"Hey, what are you trying to say?" Jed demanded wildly.

Ken hesitated. "Nothing, Jed. Only...well, what with that junk food and drinking a twelve-pack every Saturday..."

"Hell no, I do NOT have a beer belly!" Jed looked frantically down at his flat stomach. Beer bellies were the bane of frat brothers' existence. Many a fraternity man had been famed for his ways with his ladies until "the belly got him" (a phrase always uttered as if he'd fallen victim to the plague).

"No, only that...it's in the works, Jed," Ken told him gently.

"Holy crap, no wonder that hot chick didn't go for me!"

"I thought you called her beautiful," Zane muttered.

"And no wonder Maria gave me the cold shoulder the other day!"

"I don't think that's why..."

"Maria gave you the cold shoulder because you're an asshole, Jed," Ken told him frankly. "Hooking up with two girls in one night trumps beer belly."

Jed wasn't listening, though. Instead, he was zealously planning his workout regimen for the next month.

"9 AM. Skip class, go to the gym, lift weights. 10 AM. Skip class again, run ten laps around the track..."

"You shouldn't have told him."

"I'm beginning to realize that," said Ken as Jed tried to grab his accounting book from him so he could begin his weight-lifting "right away!"

"Oh my God, oh my God!"

"Serena, are you-"

"I can't believe it! I was soooo right!"

Raye flinched as a fork went flying over her head. "Right about wha-"

"This'll show Darien. Oh my God, this is perfect!"

"SERENA!" both Amy and Raye shouted through her oblivious giggling.

"Huh?" Serena paused for breath and stared back at her friends. At that point, she realized that she couldn't confess to them what she was going ga-ga over all of a sudden. The matchmaker in her itched to be free, free to pair up her friends with their potential boy toys, but she'd bet Darien it would happen without her help...or ah, friendly encouragement.

Serena sighed. "Nothing."

The girls looked at each other quizzically. Before they could question Serena further, though, a brunette appeared beside their table.

"Lita!"

"Hey, Serena."

"Take a seat! I thought you were busy?" Busy with Nevan, Serena ended in her head-not without glee. Man, she deserved a matchmaker crown.

"Um, not anymore. Anyway, I got hungry."

Raye studied Lita with those frank, violet eyes of hers. Lita met Raye's stare with equal boldness. The two had met through Serena a few times before, and were cautiously optimistic that the other was not some vapid sorority bimbo.

"Lita, you know Raye and Amy, right?"

Amy smiled at Lita before turning to the book she'd snuck into the dining hall.

Raye rolled her eyes. "Don't take it personally; she's like that with anyone she considers less interesting than a book. Which is everyone."

Lita grinned. "No worries. Rumor has it that Serena's just as attached to library books...at least when she goes there with Darien." She waggled her eyebrows in Serena's direction.

Raye shook her head. "Wow, Serena, this is the worst-kept secret since you hazed Mina by making her wear red bows every day."

"Raye! Shh!"

Raye continued as if she hadn't heard. "Now you're gonna get some terrible nickname like 'The Library Slut' or 'The Open Book'."

"Raye!"

Lita gripped her sides from suppressed laughter as her blonde friend fumed and threatened Raye with decapitation via butter knife.

"Serena, I'm sure it's not a hot rumor at all," said Amy, without looking up from her perusal of fatty acids. "Lita probably heard it from someone trustworthy like Mina."

This did not appear to reassure Serena, but she dropped it (and the knife, to Raye's relief). She turned to Lita now, desperate to talk about anyone's romantic scandals besides her own.

"Soo, Lita, were you hanging out with Nevan just now?"

The brunette quietly munched on her sandwich. She wished that jerk were here so she could give him a nice kick in the a- "Yes, Serena-as you well know."

"And how was it?" Serena asked.

"Sweaty."

The blonde's spoon clattered onto her plate. Her mouth had fallen open.

Raye, however, gave a crack of laughter. "Serena, you little perv, they were clearly playing sports!" she said, gesturing towards Lita's cutoff T-shirt and shorts.

Lita shook her head and continued to eat her dinner. Serena blushed. "Oh. Right."

"Not everyone's sexing it up in the stacks, after all."

"Wha?" Serena's head swiveled 360 degrees to find out who had uttered those words. It had been a very Raye thing to say, but Raye was currently screeching with laughter, while Amy innocently dabbed her lips with a napkin.

As if in slow motion, she looked up at Serena blankly. "Oh my...did, did I say that out loud? Oh, oh, I'm so sorry Serena, I thought I was thinking that in my head. I do that sometimes now...thanks to Raye."

"Oh...m...God...can't BREATHE," Raye gasped, doubled over now and turning a worrying shade of purple from laughing so hard. Lita had joined her, sandwich abandoned so she could laugh harder than she had for a long while at the two stunned girls staring at each other over pizza and roast chicken.

Jed, Zane, and Ken had finally decided on a diner called Jimmy's. Jimmy's was by no means swanky, but it had decent fries and sandwiches. As they'd slid into a booth, though, and Jed sadly ordered a salad, Zane realized that he hadn't the least idea what the healthy food at Jimmy's was like.

Jed's expression did not bode well. Looking comically disheartened, he pushed around the lettuce leaves with a fork.

"Jed, that salad isn't turning into a Big Mac."

Jed sighed, disgruntled. "It looks like rabbit food."

"You mean sorority girl dinner," corrected Zane as he happily munched on his own bacon cheeseburger.

"Then you eat it."

Normally, Zane was much more health-conscious than Jed, but he had been riding high on coffee all day, too busy with biochemistry duties and class to have a real meal. He'd earned this burger, damnit.

"Harhar. Not my fault you have a beer belly."

"I do not!"

"Totally do."

"Children."

"Sorry, Ken."

Ken nodded, taking a swig of his Coke. He drank along with the rest of his frat brothers, but only socially. He didn't mind the taste of alcohol or anything, but he just preferred to be aware of what he was doing, to be fully in control at all times. Mina always seemed to be flirtily pushing drinks on him whenever they were at a party together, but, Ken thought smugly, she also always ended up getting herself drunk instead. It was lucky, Ken thought, that she'd never been savvy enough to bring him his favorite Grey Goose. Otherwise, they probably would be in trouble, particularly if she kept wearing those tight, red dresses of hers...

Oh God, had he just thought that?

"Ken?"

Shit.

"Kenny boy?"

Ken was staring at the ingredients list on the Coke can, praying that alcohol had somehow been slipped into his soda. He looked up. "What?"

Zane and Jed raised their eyebrows. "You were totally in dreamland."

"Who you fantasizing about, Kenny? Hm? Who're you hoping to impress this weekend?" Jed teased.

"Well whoever it is, at least I don't have to worry about my stomach blocking her view."

"Ooh, low blow," Zane tittered.

"Asshole," Jed muttered, defiantly stuffing his mouth with a forkful of green, leafy goodness.

"Seriously though Jed, you should invite that girl from your class to the party. The more the merrier, right Ken?"

"Sure." It didn't really matter if Ken said someone could come or not. It was a frat party, for heaven's sake. He'd played beer pong with someone's mom at the last one. And he had a sneaking suspicion that he'd seen one of the guys subsequently make out with her in the corner. These things knew very, very few bounds.

Jed hesitated for a moment, thinking back on his encounter with Raye. "I dunno, she didn't really seem like the frat party type."

"Well, she does attend class," Zane pointed out reasonably.

"She just...I dunno, the way she looked at me. It seemed like she just didn't go for guys like me."

"Wow, she really is smart."

Jed shook his head. "Knock it off. I don't know what made me say that. It was just...this look. Something in her eyes." Beautiful as they had been.

"If she knew how you act around girls, Jed, those eyes probably would have killed," Ken said idly.

"Aw, lay off, I'm getting better."

Zane conceded that much. "I guess. After all, you haven't hooked up with anyone in the last week," he said brightly.

Jed hit his palm to the table. "There's hope for me yet!"

Please review! :)


	6. Part Five: Tuesday Morning

Hey all! Here's the next installment of my college fic! It's Zane-Ami-heavy (yay!), so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Wal-Mart nor the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Dang, but if I did, I'd be loaded.

* * *

_Part Five: Tuesday Morning_

* * *

Groggily, Zane reached into the kitchen cabinet, a steaming mug in his other hand. He clawed around in the cabinet in search of his much-needed caffeine source. He pulled out the box of tea bags, still bleary-eyed, and proceeded to sit at the kitchen table to dunk a bag into the water. Hm, the bag seemed heavier than usual...

"Zane!"

Nevan froze at the kitchen doorway. At least, Zane thought it was Nevan. He honestly looked more like a tall blur with shaggy caveman hair. Zane squinted his green eyes in the blur's direction.

Slowly, Nevan asked, "Um, where are your glasses?"

"Couldn't find them," Zane sighed woefully. "I bet Jed stole them."

Nevan didn't respond.

Zane frowned at the sudden interest in his myopia. "I'll put my contacts on in a minute, just needed to wake up a little first."

A strange noise escaped the caveman blur.

"What?" Zane said, slightly annoyed. He needed his caffeine and some peace and quiet from the surroundings that he hoped were his frat house, but that he, in all honesty, would not be able to distinguish from a zoo if hard-pressed.

Zane lifted the mug to his lips.

"Stop!"

"What is your problem?"

Nevan strode over to his frat brother and took the mug out of his hands. He pulled out the "tea bag" from the water and, taking it by the dangling string, held it closer to Zane's face.

Zane's myopic eyes focused in on the object in front of him and he uttered one sound...

"BLECH!"

Nevan dropped the sock and began to laugh hard. Zane looked like he'd just seen a giant mutant cockroach, he was so horrified.

"WHAT the hell is wrong with Jed? How did his fucking sock get into the tea bag box?"

Nevan stopped laughing for a few seconds, gasping out: "We really need to...haha...start thinking of some creative recipes if all we have in this kitchen are...haha...socks."

"God, I can't believe I almost drank that." Zane shuddered, his OCD tendencies revolted. "I need to go brush my teeth again. Then use mouthwash. Then swallow some rubbing alcohol. Goodbye."

"Wait. I have a better idea." Nevan gingerly picked up the wet sock again by its loose thread. He had an evil grin on his face. "Let's wake up Jed."

* * *

Lita toweled off her damp strands of brown hair furiously. Basketball practice had just let out and if she didn't hurry, she would be late for her cooking class. She tossed her blue and white Nikes into her locker, opting instead for more sensible, sweat-free black flats. She double-checked her backpack to make sure she'd packed her newly-purchased white apron.

Lita had joined the culinary arts elective on a whim. She was no professional by any means, just liked dinking around the kitchen once in a while. A few chocolate muffins here, some blanquette de vous with lemon aioli there. Nothing fancy. She'd probably just manage to burn some toast in this class, but hey, you never knew.

As Lita shut her locker, she heard her phone buzz along the wooden bench beside her. A text, her mind registered. Probably from Nevan.

Ignore it, she ordered herself. Make him wait.

And why not? He'd done the same to her last night.

_Hey, how'd your physics go? Learn anything yet? Besides Molly's waist size._

That last comment was probably a little obvious. She couldn't believe she'd said it, actually.

Nevan hadn't replied anyway.

Hating herself for being so in love with the jerk, Lita impatiently scooped up her phone to read the text.

_Congratulations! You've just won a brand new Wal-Mart gift certificate-_

This just angered Lita more. She jammed her phone into her pocket and tugged on a clean tank top. It was January and 70 degrees outside. Unlike snow-loving Serena, she relished it.

She felt, more than heard the buzz as she walked out of the gym. After taking a calming breath, she fished the phone out of her pocket.

_Working on it ;)_

Ugh. That left an unsavory taste in Lita's mouth. Working on it? Winky face? Was he born a chauvinistic pig or had his frat implanted some sexism chip upon initiation?

Even more ticked off than before, Lita stowed away her phone and sprinted off to class, pushing thoughts of Nevan's hands under Molly's shirt from of her mind.

* * *

Pen. Notebook. _Great American Short Stories._

Was she missing anything?

Pen. Notebook. _Great American Short Stories._

Should it be notebook, _pen, Great American Short Stories_? She didn't know. She'd never taken an English class at Crown before. Were the professors anal? Did they judge you based on the arrangement of your class supplies?

"Hey there."

Her copy of Great American Short Stories flew off Amy's desk as she gave a start (and a squeak). Blinking rapidly, she turned to find herself face to face with...her biochemistry TA?

"Hiya." He grinned wide, revealing an uncannily bright smile.

Uh, was she in the right classroom?

Amy looked around suspiciously, wondering if she had mistaken a chemistry lab for an English seminar. Zane rushed to reassure her.

"I swear I'm supposed to be here. I'm an English major. And I promise I'm not stalking you." He grinned at her again, holding out the book she'd dropped.

Tentatively, Amy accepted it. Was that last comment supposed to make her feel better?

"Amy, right?"

She nodded, shyly meeting his gaze.

He smiled wider, if that were possible. Amy casually wondered if that were the only expression he was capable of.

Had she been aware of the thoughts running through Zane's head, she probably would have been a bit more understanding. Or, well no, just more freaked out.

_I can't believe we're in the same class! This is crazy. God, she's pretty, though. I didn't know anyone's eyes could be so damn blue..._

"...Zane?"

"What?"

"No, that's your name, right?" Her damn blue eyes looked at him uncertainly. Fringed by a sweep of black lashes, they seemed to hesitate the longer he stared into them.

"Yeah, it is." He didn't register that he was still staring.

She averted her gaze. "So, um, you're an English and Chemistry double major?"

"Oh, no, English and PoliSci." He laughed at the adorably confused expression coming to her face. "Yeah, it's a trip. I'm a chemistry minor, if that helps?"

"I see...how do you do it all?" she asked, not without admiration.

Zane shrugged. "Lots of AP credits?"

That surprised a laugh out of her, and drew an answering smile from him. And Amy realized that she actually liked his smile. A lot.

Which was good, because he liked her laugh. A lot.

"Hey, I'm in this frat-"

"Sigma Mu."

"Yeah." He looked surprised. "How'd you know?"

Realizing that now she was the one coming across as a weird stalker, she murmured, "Uh, it was on your T-shirt, um, yesterday."

He didn't attempt to hide the smile on his face. "You remember what I was wearing?"

Feeling a bit flustered, and wanting to avoid eye contact again, Amy bent to fish her reading glasses from her bookbag. Something about him made her nervous.

As she rummaged through the books, her hand came into contact with a case. She pulled it out, only to realize that it was black and sleek and not brown like her own glasses case.

"What the...?"

Zane looked over and exclaimed, "My glasses!"

"_Your_ glasses?" Amy said, puzzled.

"Yeah, what are you doing with them?"

"Um-"

"I mean, I know you wanted an excuse to see me again, but stealing doesn't seem like the best option."

Without thinking, Amy swatted Zane on the shoulder.

The contact was light, brief, but it made them both look up at each other. She had done it so casually, like she'd known him for a long time.

Looking away, she handed the case to him. "The case must have fallen into my bag in lab yesterday. It was open and on the floor."

Zane nodded. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Then said, "I was just teasing."

"I know."

"Thanks for finding it."

"You're welcome."

He stared down at his own desk and said, rushing the words out: "I bet you look cute in glasses."

Amy reddened, but chose to ignore the flirtatiousness of the comment-coming from her TA, no less!-as she said: "How did you know that I wear...?"

Turning towards her, said biochem TA leaned in unexpectedly. Something caught in Amy's throat, and thoughts of Zane's TA-ness flew out of her head. She realized instead that Zane had beautiful, green, smooth like sea glass eyes. "Because," he said in a low voice, "You already have your glasses on." He lifted his finger to tap the glasses sitting on her head.

Amy blushed harder. Zane smiled, softly saying, "Good excuse to look through your bag, though."

Before the girl could sink even farther into her chair, the door opened.

"Good morning, everyone, my name is Professor Diaz. Welcome to Creative Writing."

The two jerked their heads up at once, like children caught misbehaving.

"I always like to start the first class with a tongue-in-cheek writing exercise. So today your writing prompt is "meet-cutes." "

* * *

The sandstone walkway leading to Crown's student center was alive with people. Tables and deep blue booths lined either side of the plaza, and spilled over with graduate students bent over their novels or laughing co-eds sporting sunglasses.

Ken didn't count himself amongst any of this group, as he wasn't lounging around, but instead making a beeline for the bookstore. The problem with the bookstore's location in the student center was that he always had to weave his way around so many...well, students to get there.

The worst of the lot, though, were the tablers.

Rain or shine, there were always bunches of student groups tabling outside the building. There they stood, toothy grins pasted to their faces, imploring you to buy their cookies, think of those oil-soaked pelicans, to please promise to attend some a capella group's Valentine's Day concert. And so on and so forth. He needed an econometrics textbook, not a lecture on interfaith conversations!

"Excuse me!" Just keep walking, Ken. "Excuse me! Donate a dollar for a kiss?"

His feet went rock-solid.

Ken swiveled to meet a pair of laughing blue eyes. Coyly, Mina leaned forward, over the table and sorority banner.

"That seems like a dangerous offer," he said slowly.

"Got your attention, didn't it?"

Ken shrugged. "I guess that's one way to make your table stand out."

"Better than selling rice krispy bars, Kenny."

"I happen to like rice krispy bars. And don't call me Kenny."

Mina laughed, and moved around her sorority's table to talk to him properly. She wore cutoffs and had arranged her hair in a loose braid that hung over one bare, elegant shoulder. Ken was a tiny bit glad that no other students had heard her offer. Momentarily forgetting his textbook, he asked what cause she was championing now.

"The oft-overlooked white girl."

It was a very good thing Ken wasn't drinking anything at the moment, because he was sure he would have pulled a spit-take. The things Mina said.

She laughed. "Our sorority has a small carnival and student concert coming up next week and we're just flyering for it. If you're interested." She handed him the bright blue advertisement.

"And?"

"And what?"

The corners of his lips twitched.

Mina gave in. "Okay, yes, it's for a cause. If you must know it's for the drug rehab center on 51st."

"There it is. Such a Mother Teresa."

She scoffed. "Would Mother Teresa host a kissing booth for her cause?" Mina challenged with a mischievous smile.

Ken paused. "Well, she was a resourceful woman. Don't tell me you're actually doing that?"

"Maybe," sang the girl.

The image of Mina making out with a line of unsavory frat boys and engineers sprang into his head. For some reason, it made him feel uncomfortable. He concluded that it was just because he didn't want her to feel she had to sink to that to make money; it was a feminist thing, really.

The object of his internal feminism spoke up. "So will you drop by?"

But Ken had already began to shuffle his notebooks together and look in the direction of the bookstore. "Uh, I have to grab a book from the bookstore, actually, so I'll see you later."

"Bye, Kenny."

"Have fun."

"You know this is going to be awkward when you have to walk _back_ from the bookstore past my table again right?"

Ken ignored her and kept right on walking.

* * *

"You're so cruel," sighed Serena to her boyfriend. The two stood at the other end of the walkway, having watched Mina and Ken's exchange. "I could get those two together in a heartbeat."

"Serena-"

"I won't, I won't. But your need to deny your friends love and happiness might be a topic for your therapist."

"I don't have a therapist."

"There's another possible topic."

"Of course I want all our friends to be happy. These are people's lives, though, Serena, and I think if it's meant to be, it'll happen. Besides, Ken and Mina were just talking, not trying to make out or something."

"Well fate sometimes needs a helping hand. Whatever, let's not talk about this. I gotta help Mina table."

"Yeah, I have class. See you later. And cheer up." He squeezed her hand. "I bet that everything will work out great-and you won't have to lift a finger."

He walked in the opposite direction. With another dramatic sigh, Serena considered that it was a really good thing her boyfriend was at least good-looking.

* * *

Zane had been in Amy's company for no more than a couple of hours since they'd met. But those few hours were enough to convince him that he wanted to know her.

A few minutes into the class, he'd panicked. Not because he had a very lovely girl sitting beside him (though yes, on occasion that did panic him), but because he realized he hadn't come to class with the right bookbag or the right books.

Glancing over at his expression, Amy immediately shifted her anthology over so he could share. She did it so subtly, in fact, that he didn't even see it till she tapped a finger to the page they were on.

"Thanks," he whispered.

The class read snippets of short stories. In keeping with the theme of "meet-cutes" they were particularly interesting themselves in the openings of stories and pieces of literature.

Professor Diaz, a middle-aged woman with an enviable frizz of dark hair, was sharp as a tack, guiding them through interesting interpretations of the opening lines of short stories.

"Now, why don't you all give me examples of opening lines you, personally, have found particularly engaging or striking?"

Immediately, a hand shot up. Professor Diaz nodded in the direction of a tall boy with large, hipster glasses. He spouted: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

The professor said, "Yes, Anna Karenina. That is a very famous opening line, of course. And what was your name?"

"Todd."

"Todd. That's a very good example of a well-known opener. But I'm actually interested in lines that resonate with you all, not just ones people have told you are significant."

Todd looked rather offended.

"Any other lines?"

Anxious to show a certain someone his aptitude for literature, Zane prepared to raise his hand. Then he realized that the certain someone had gotten there first, albeit with a shyly raised hand.

"Yes? What was your name?"

"Amy."

"Go ahead, Amy."

She stammered out: "I was just going to say...it's not exactly a Western classic, or even in English, but the opening line of "Love in the Time of Cholera" I found lovely."

There was a noise. Todd, it seemed, didn't find her example very inspired. Zane shot Todd a dirty look that instantly quelled him, though. Todd fell silent. Trust him to mess with the girl with the overprotective boyfriend.

"Do you know if off-hand, Amy?" asked Professor Diaz.

She nodded. "It goes, 'It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.' "

"And why is that a powerful opening, do you think?"

"I would say because it immediately sets this tone for 'fate', the unruliness of circumstances and emotions. And that follows the novel's love story throughout. There's a decided flavor, I guess you could say, of bittersweetness in that one line."

"And," Zane put in, "it marks one's lack of control over whom one loves." Amy looked his way, confused. Her TA winked at her.

Professor Diaz raised her eyebrows at the pair, but nodded. "Yes, I think that's a nice example. Thank you. Anyone else?"

The class ended a few minutes later and Amy rose, putting away her things and making sure none of Zane's belongings and slipped in this time. Zane sidled up to her.

"_Love in the Time of Cholera_?"

Amy shrugged, avoiding his amused look. They walked out of the seminar classroom together, though she hadn't planned to do that by any means.

"You know, Ms. Pre-med, I've just realized something."

"What?"

Zane looked pleased as he said: "You're a romantic."

* * *

Serena was bored with the tabling. People had stopped taking the flyers and since Mina had ignored Serena's advertising-savvy advice of changing into a tube top and mini-skirt to help the process along, they were at a stand-still. Literally, standing still behind their table.

Innocently as she could, Serena leaned toward her friend. "Mina."

"Serena."

"What do you think about Ken?"

"Hm? He's cool."

"You don't like him?"

Mina eyed Serena. "Like him? I mean...I've never thought of it really."

"Really? But you're Matchmakers'R'Us!"

"What?"

"Uh, nothing, just a name Darien...nothing."

"I dunno. Don't get me wrong, he's gorgeous."

"Mhmm, go on."

"And smart and motivated and all that."

"And you flirt with him like crazy," Serena egged her on.

Mina looked conscience-stricken for a moment. "You don't think I've been giving him the wrong impression?"

Serena sighed. "No, I think he knows it's a joke..."

"Good." Mina stacked the blue flyers together for the twentieth time. She then smiled to herself and turned to Serena as if making a decision. "To tell you the truth, Sere, I'm kind of interested in Andy..."

"President of the frat, Andy?"

"He's so cute and sweet."

"But is he gorgeous and motivated?"

Mina laughed. "In his way. Why, what does it matter? It's not as if Ken's head-over-heels for me. He thinks I'm some vapid blonde." She shrugged. "Not that it matters, he's entitled to his opinions."

Serena thought back to Ken standing at the table talking to Mina. He'd been practically glued to the spot.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Serena said lightly. She continued calling out to people walking by, inviting them to the sorority carnival, the biggest bash of the year! After the sorority semi, of course.

But she didn't miss the curious look that had appeared on Mina's face. Her interest was peaked.

* * *

I'm having a great time writing this story, and I hope you all are enjoying it, too! Please review!


	7. Part Six: Tuesday Lunch Break

As Lita washed her hands, she saw a thin figure walk up to the bathroom mirror. She didn't know the girl, but, glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, Lita recognized her as a sorority girl dating Lance, a fellow basketball player.

For most of her time at Crown, Lita's group of friends had either been restricted to the Sig-Mu guys and Mina and Serena or basketball players. At Crown, teammates were usually all housed in the same section of a dorm, so Lita had bonded with the girls on her team for the past year and a half. Their alarms went off together, they all practiced together, they played together—it made sense. Some of the men's basketball team also lived on their floor; Lita half-wondered if this was the university's misguided attempt at matchmaking.

The brunette assumed that, by the amount of primping the girl beside her was doing, she had slept over the night before.

"Morning," Lita said in her usual friendly tone, even though it was 11:30 am.

The other girl nodded and returned to her makeup. Lita continued rinsing her own rough hands as the girl applied mascara. She was very pretty, of course (Lance _was_ point guard after all) and had delicate features, like a china doll's, with glossy blonde curls and pouting pink lips.

By the time she had left, Lita's hands were practically pruney. She dried them and for a moment, looked at herself in the mirror. She had never thought of herself as beautiful—certainly nowhere near the girls in Mina's sorority or the ones who dated athletes. She was too tall for most guys (not petite like Molly); her hair was always in a frizzy brown ponytail (not smooth and shining like Molly's); and her body, though very much in shape, was too curvy (not slim like Molly's). She normally wore athletic wear because it was just easier that way. She wasn't even sure she _owned _a dress, and didn't know the first thing about all the powder and goop that girl had been pasting onto her face.

Not that it mattered, really; Lita had never been shallow.

Yet something clenched in her chest as she realized it probably _did_ matter to Nevan.

* * *

"And one and two and three and four and one and..."

"Uh, Jed, what are you doing?" asked Zane as he leaned against the doorway. Jed's laptop sat open on his desk, and if Zane's eyes weren't deceiving him, an aerobics routine featuring Jillian Michaels was playing on the screen. Even better, Jed was mirroring Jillian Michaels' squats and kicks as she barked out about the "buns of steel" he would soon own.

"And one!"-punch-"Two!"-squat-"Three!"-bunny hop-"Four!"-...pose?

With a mischievous cackle, Zane began to record Jed's rhythmic gymnastics with his phone.

"Come on, you can do it! You go, girl!" encouraged Jillian Michaels.

"You go, Glen Coco!" encouraged Zane.

Without breaking his concentration, Jed flipped Zane off. With a final jump-kick, he paused the video.

His frat brother's grin was unshakeable.

Jed attempted to explain. "It's Mina's video. She said it would be the fastest way for me to get in shape."

"And of course the most masculine way."

"Delete it."

"No way!"

"Delete it."

"Oh come on, I want to show it to your pretty history class girl," Zane said with a mocking smile.

"You do and I'll show your hot chem girl that comic book collection of yours."

"Her name is _Amy,_ and she might actually be impressed by that."

Jed looked surprised that his friend had managed to find a girl as nerdy as him. "Really?"

"No." Zane looked mournful. "But speaking of Amy, you'll never guess where I saw her today."

"Let me think, let me think." Jed squeezed his eyes shut as if in deep thought. "Um...porno shoot!"

"JED!"

"What? You said I'd never guess, so I went for the unexpected," Jed said, unfazed. "Though you know, the premise of a hot chem girl and her TA might not be a bad idea for a porn..."

"Will you—"

"Is she a good actor?" Jed went on as if deaf to Zane's blustering. "Not that it matters, I don't think acting skills are really part of a porn star's repertoi-"

"SHUT UP!"

Zane kicked at his so-called friend. Jed nimbly hopped out of the way and onto his bed. "Not that I'll find it as interesting as the porno shoot, but where _did _you see her_?"_

Zane paused, foot still in mid-air. "She's in my writing seminar."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. And actually," Zane smiled to himself, "she's the one who had my glasses, apparently."

"Really? She steal them? Are you crushing on a klepto now, Zane?"

Zane tried to kick Jed once again. "She did not STEAL them, they fell into her bag."

As he blocked the kick with a textbook that looked suspiciously like one of Zane's ("Damnit Jed!"), the other blonde nodded sagely. "Yeah I had an aunt who was a klepto. I think that was her story, too."

"I can't talk to you right now."

"Aw no, tell me, tell me. Was she _wearing_ the glasses, 'cause that'd go with the whole hot chem girl slash librarian thing—"

"No she was not WEARING them, what the hell?"

"Man, you do not know how to make a good porno."

"I swear Jed, you say 'porno' one more time and this aerobics video goes viral." Zane held up his phone threateningly. "And those rumors about me being gay (which I bet YOU started) are swinging right over to you."

"But Zane, Daniel told Carly told Michaela told Serena that you think I'm cute. Don't you, Zane, don't you?" wailed Jed as he leaped from the bed and flung himself onto the other blonde.

His advances were not graciously received. "Geroff me, you twat!"

At that moment, Zane saw, with the eye that wasn't currently covered by Jed's body, that Nevan had just entered the room...

"Jed you better fricking well get off me!"

...and that Nevan was closely followed by a brunette with wide brown eyes, which widened more when she saw the position the two blondes were in.

Jed and Zane jumped away from each other, as far as they could get, like dogs who'd just been sprayed by a hose.

"Uh, this isn't what it looks like!"

"We were just rehearsing a play!"

"But nothing happened!"

"We swear!"

"Zane just can't keep his hands off me!"

"Traitor!"

Nevan introduced his idiot friends to Molly, much as it pained him to acknowledge them at the moment. While Molly giggled behind her hand, Nevan opened up his arms and hands in the universal "what the hell?" shrug. Really? They had to embarrass him the second he walked in the door?

"So Molly, are you Nevan's...cousin?" asked Zane.

Molly looked confused. "She's in Serena's sorority, Zane," snarled Nevan.

"We're um, kind of...you know," said Molly shyly.

"Oh. Right." Zane thought of how Lita must be feeling right now. He badly felt like clocking Nevan with a shoe.

"Cool," contributed Jed. He subtly closed his laptop before anyone could see the frozen image of Jillian Michaels and co. working their glutes.

"Okay, we'll see you weirdo's later," said Nevan, feeling the awkwardness the situation, which he frankly couldn't explain away. He fidgeted with the iPhone in his hand as he and Molly walked out the door.

* * *

It was much easier to not worry about Nevan, Lita decided, when she had a friend to distract her.

Okay, so she didn't actually know Raye well, but she was funny and nice to be around. She and Amy lived in the same dorm complex as Lita, and Lita had thought to drop by to see if the roommates wanted to grab a bite with her. Cooking class had been wonderful, but it had also made Lita pretty hungry. The class had only baked small pastries, which the professor promptly "put away" (to be put away, Lita suspected, in her personal pantry).

"Come in!" called Raye, after Lita knocked on the door of room 103.

Lita entered to find herself facing Raye's ass. The other girl was turned away from the door, bent at the waist, and legs spread out into a deep V position Lita was certain defied human physiology. The dark-haired girl had her hands clasped around her ankles and head planted on the floor.

Serena had once mentioned to Lita that although she and all her friends got hit on at some point whenever they went out to a party or club, Raye usually had more conquests (not that she would call them that) than all the girls in the room put together.

Taking in Raye's flexibility and tight Spandex shorts, Lita little doubted the truth of that statement.

"Er, Raye?"

Raye unhinged her joints like a mechanical toy and popped up. "Hey Lita. What's up?"

Lita looked understandably confused. Raye explained with one word: "Dandayamana."

Silence. "Say what?"

"It's a position."

"In...the _Kama Sutra_?" Lita suggested.

"_Yoga_."

"Aah, gotcha. Is that what you do to relax?"

Raye nodded. "I meditate, too." She arched her back into a stretch. "It's too bad Amy's such a stickler for fire code, or I could really delve into my meditations."

Lita decided against asking exactly which aspects of the fire code Raye needed to break to achieve inner peace. "Ah. I just wanted to see if you and Amy wanted to grab some lunch? My cooking class really worked up an appetite."

"Yeah, sure. Oh, there's this organic vegan restaurant off campus called Soy and Things that we could try?"

"Oh...uh, sure—" Lita stammered, though normally she wouldn't touch vegan products with a ten-foot-pole.

Raye allowed herself a smile. "I'm just kidding. Screw vegetables—let's get a burger."

As Amy would be in class all day, it was just the two of them. They took Raye's sleek red car to Jimmy's diner.

Raye apologized for the fact that all the radio presets were either classical music or documentary programs.

"That's what happens when you tell your nerdy roommate she can have her way with the radio."

Once at Jimmy's, the girls grabbed their food and naturally fell into conversation. They talked music, sports, a shared love of cupcakes, their mutual annoyance with the cheerleading squad's ever-shrinking outfits, and then another source of annoyance: Crown's frat boys.

"The ever-diplomatic Amy's pointed out that I know some decent guys who are in frats. But God, when they're in their group they're just—"

"Sexist idiots," finished Lita. Remembering that Nevan was being an idiot all on his own, she amended: "Though some of them can easily be jerks alone, too."

Instead of replying, Raye gave Lita a thoughtful, measuring look with those dark indigo eyes. The other girl shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She felt like that stare could read her.

If Raye had been Serena or Mina, she would have pounced and brought up Nevan and how Lita couldn't hate frats _that_ much if she was so googly-eyed in love with a classic frat boy.

But Raye was Raye and she simply stayed quiet for a moment. "You know, I bought into it my freshman year."

"What?"

"The Greek thing."

"What do you mean?"

Raye rolled her drink straw between her fingers. "I rushed Beta Chi, actually."

"No way." Lita blinked at the idea of Raye singing sorority anthems and coordinating lipstick colors with other girls'.

Raye nodded. "It can suck you in. You feel like you belong in a way, you know. Sororities aren't as bad as frats, but...it wasn't for me. Serena was made for it, though."

Lita agreed. She hadn't known Serena as long as Raye, of course, but she knew what she meant. She nibbled on a fry contemplatively, then said: "Do you think that...frat guys just assume they should be dating sorority girls?"

"I've never seen a frat guy really 'date' anyone, unless date means sleep with them."

Lita detected some venom there.

The other continued: "But I see what you're saying. It's probably easier for them to get with sorority girls. But it's not like they're all in a bubble that can't communicate with the outside world.

"I went to high school with Darien and Serena. They were crazy about each other long before they ended up in the Greek world. Gaga, even; it was kind of disgusting." Lita laughed, well able to imagine the couple mooning over each other while Raye rolled her eyes in the background. Raye continued: "Being Greek hasn't changed that at all, though. It's...well it's not like that's their only identity," she admitted, almost to herself.

She looked up at Lita and paused. She surprised her by saying: "Lita, if he doesn't look at you in that way just because you don't have random Greek letters stitched to your sweater, he really is an idiot. But I think...I think the sorority girl is the distraction. Not the other way around."

In spite of herself, Lita inhaled. "How did you...?"

Raye sat back in her chair. She looked a bit smug. "Just think of the wonders I could do if I had my fire."

* * *

Nevan looked down at his cell phone. Molly, whom he had met for lunch leaned over to see what had got his attention. "What's up?"

"Huh, uh, nothing."

Lita must be busy. She had that cooking class after all and then botany in the afternoon. That was why she hadn't responded to his texts. Not that it mattered, she had her own life and he was busy trying to get with Molly so...so, it didn't matter.

"Nevan?"

Molly looked over at him with those wide brown eyes. He put his phone away decisively. Nevan inched closer to the girl, wearing a smile that could weaken the knees. "Want to work on some more physics later?" He waggled his eyebrows and she laughed.

"I think I've figured the problems out," she said in her New Yorker accent.

"Aw."

"But just in case, we could always review it one more time tonight?"

"Better safe than sorry."

* * *

Zane sat down to review biochemistry for the following day. The experiment was pretty straightforward since it was their first, but he didn't want to risk making himself into any more of a fool than he had on Monday. Especially in front of a certain someone...

"Whatcha doin'?" asked a voice right by his ear.

"Ah!" The lab manual fluttered up and back onto his desk.

"Jeez, nervous much?" said Jed as he took a seat on the corner of Zane's bed. He deposited a Subway sandwich onto Zane's desk unceremoniously before starting on his own. "No mustard, extra Pepper Jack."

Zane swerved around, simultaneously touched and irritated. "Thanks. Not to sound ungrateful, but don't you have _class_?"

"Technically, yes."

Zane was about to begin his usual lecture on the obvious detriment to one's grades when one did not attend class, but Jed stopped him with a wave. "I know, I know, but you don't even do anything on the first day, and I'm still shopping for classes."

"The point of _shopping_ for classes, Jed, is that you go check out the class-"

"New sufrar pwease," Jed said in the middle of a large bite of his sandwich. "So what's the story on this chem girl? You gonna ask her out?"

Zane shrugged, suddenly a little shy. "Maybe." He fiddled with his pen and looked down at his manual. "She's interesting, definitely. She has this focused, mathematical mind, Jed. But she also has a poetic side and a love for art, or at least good literature. She's incredibly smart and awfully sweet and pretty and I dunno...I just feel _nice _when I'm around her_."_

"You know for a nerd you have a curiously high libido..."

"I don't mean _sexually_, Jed. God, is that all you think about?"

Jed looked at him with wide eyes, over the footlong sandwich. "Well...yeah."

Zane rolled his eyes. "Seriously, though, I don't think I've ever met anyone quite like Amy. "

Jed studied his friend's classic profile for a minute. Zane had been tumbling into love since they'd met freshman year. Back then, Zane was constantly full of energy and ideas, but also had a thing for pretty girls. The first semester it had been a perky redhead in his Shakespeare class. Zane had even gone so far as to write her a sonnet, which he'd been on the verge of spouting outside her dorm window. He'd arrived at the building, though, only to find that the redhead was more interested in getting it on with a lacrosse team player in the middle of a clump of bushes than hearing Zane's sonnets. At least he never actually got to start the poem, Jed thought gratefully, too preoccupied was Zane with the lacrosse net flailing around and somehow being used in the bush operation... He had tried to go out for sports after that, and twisted his ankle two minutes into a pickup game with Jed. So that was the end of that.

The second time, Zane had met a quieter, but certainly not a bubblegum-sweet girl at a rush party. She wore scads of eyeliner and insisted her name was Darcy even though her friends kept calling her Anne. Zane got her number, though, and called her, tried to date her, and said he found her "fascinating."

"It's not a fucking behavioral experiment, Zane," Jed had put in. Darcy/Anne stopped seeing Zane after a few weeks, informing him she needed someone who understood her dark side better. Considering he was upbeat, constantly smiling, and blonde, Zane abandoned the idea of winning Darcy-Anne back.

The last girl had been Imani. He met her during their summer studying abroad in Europe. Tall, luscious and cocksure, she flirted outright with Zane at the Irish pub their study abroad group had decided to check out. She smiled over at him with ruby lipstick on her mouth and enough shining brown skin revealed to make any man pay attention. She had been unlike any girl Zane had known.

She was razor-sharp, too, quoting Nietzsche in the back of the pub as he tried to catch his breath, and clean the red from his mouth. He found himself in her bed the same night.

It was something he'd promised himself he'd never do. But he had, and a few weeks into the tumultuous relationship, Zane truly thought himself in love.

Imani was more tender than she appeared. She broke up with him gently in the fall, saying she needed time away from anything resembling commitment. It had taken Zane more time and more booze to get over her than any of the others.

That was Zane. Wearing his heart stitched to all his fucking sleeves, getting hurt, and bouncing right back.

Trying not to be too blunt, Jed pointed out: "Zane, you just met this Amy girl."

"I know, it seems crazy. But...I like her," Zane admitted to himself.

"Zane, you liked Imani, too, and that wasn't the best decision—"

"Okay, so I was impulsive. That's just how I am, Jed. And did it ever occur to you that it might actually be for real this time? A broken clock's right twice a day, y'know."

"Hey that's good, you should write that one down."

"It's a _cliché _you numbskull_."_

Jed decided to drop his counseling for now. Maybe Ken could try his hand at it. "Come on, all this talk's got me curious. Show me chem girl."

"_Amy_. And I don't have a picture."

"On Facebook, stupid."

"I'm not going to Facebook stalk her just so you can rate her hotness..."

"What? When have I ever done that?"

Zane began to tick off on his fingers, "With Mina, with Cassie, with Maria, with Deirdre, with the entire cheerleading team, with Janet..."

"Okay okay, I mean with a girl _you've_ liked?"

"With Imani, with Alex, with Claudia..."

"Okay, okay, I promise I won't this time!"

Zane looked suspicious. "Not even in your head?"

"Not even in my head."

"Fine." Zane logged into his Facebook. He searched Amy Anderson, and got a hit. "I think you can only see her profile pic, but this is her. The girl with the shorter hair."

"Yeah, I know."

"How?" asked Zane suspiciously.

"'Cause the girl standing next to her is my history class girl."


	8. Part Seven: Tuesday Afternoon

To the reviewer, Jovia: Don't worry, there will be plenty of drama :)

* * *

Dr. Kothari's econometrics class was held in a huge classroom with a projector screen so large you could hide Crown's male and female basketball teams under it. The room featured auditorium-style seating that curved up to the entrance and sat 300 people.

At the moment, though, about 210 of those 300 people were in various states of sleep or pre-sleep. The guy next to Ken had his sunglasses on—the fratty kind with the blue plastic temples—as he slowly sank deeper into his chair and oblivion.

Ken was not asleep. In fact, a number of sources would hazard that Ken did not ever sleep. Hyped up as Zane could be, every night he hit REM before his roommate had even left his desk.

Darien had roomed with Ken the year before, and reported that once, he thought Ken was asleep over his books, head in hand, but when Darien approached to tap him on the shoulder, Ken leapt up like a tiger and threw Darien across one of the beds, ninja style.

"Ten to one he was KGB in his past life," Darien had groaned as Serena applied an ice pack to his head.

So not even Dr. Kothari's accented droning about sexy topics such as homoscedasticity could compel Ken to rest his eyes.

He did however, stop typing notes to check his e-mail for a minute. Just a minute, mind you. The kid in front of him was skyping his girlfriend for Christs' sake-no one would begrudge him the momentary diversion.

As Ken scrolled through listserv mail and party reminders a window opened in the bottom corner of his computer screen.

Mina: _Hey you! Guess someone's not paying attention in class :)_

He debated not replying. They weren't exactly friends, more like acquaintances, and yes he seemed to be seeing more of her than usual, but that didn't mean anything, and he sure as hell was not interested in...

_You there?_

Maybe he was overthinking it.

Ken: _Yeah._

_What's up? _

Mina: _Hey, do you have posters for the party you need BC's help posting? You or Andrew can send them my way._

Ken: _That would be great. Thanks._

Mina: _No probs!_

Ken drummed his fingers on his desk, guessing the conversation was done. That had been uneventful.

Mina: _Hey, question._

Ken: _What's that?_

Mina: _Okay, I feel stupid asking this but..._

_But?_

_Do you know if Andrew's seeing anyone?_

Ken: _Like dating?_

Mina: _Yeah. Sorry, I know it's weird to ask, but you know him well so I just thought..._

Ken: _I honestly don't know. I'd try Darien._

Mina: _Oh ok! Thanks Kenny! Sorry, didn't mean to bother you!_

Ken: _No problem. This class is as interesting as the inside of a shoe_

With a few LOL's and a goodbye, Mina logged out. Ken shook his head and started to sign out of his e-mail himself, when another chat window opened up.

Jed: _Yo yo can you order pizza for the house for tonight? My stomach's about to eat itself brah_

Ken: _I'm in class Jed, don't bug me_

* * *

"Honestly, Sere...I don't know if I asked Ken because I just wanted to know or because I wanted to see how he'd respond."

Serena giggled. "I'm sure it's gotten him thinking at least."

Mina nodded slowly, as she packed her laptop into a marigold Longchamp tote. "And me too."

* * *

Amy was back in lab, though microbiology this time. According to her schedule, she would be spending four days a week in a lab and she couldn't be happier. "You're a freak," Raye kindly informed her as Amy scribbled in her planner and actually hummed. "Seriously Ames, I don't know anyone who's as big a nerd as you, and Crown is not that small."

Brushing the comment off as a compliment-and deciding against telling Raye how many credits she was taking-Amy had gone to English. There, she'd been made to feel uncomfortable by Zane (pleasantly uncomfortable, one might argue, but she would not), then had her microbiology lecture and now, directly after, microbio lab.

Her TA was very unlike Zane, what with the ramrod-straight back, dark eyes, and the fact that she was a girl. Amy preferred that, though.

Why did she prefer it? she asked herself as she practiced sterile technique on the agar plate, turning on the flame so she could heat up the loop. She was here to learn, not worry about what gender her TA was. She'd had plenty of male TA's in the past, none of whom made her feel more uncomfortable than the average human being. It occurred to her that her awkwardness around Zane did not merely stem from his being male, but she ignored the feeling and set to work disinfecting her loop.

"No daydreaming, Anderson," said a voice at her shoulder. Amy narrowly escaped lighting her hand on fire.

"Darien!"

He grinned over at her as he took a seat at the stool on her left. The TA looked displeased, but had, Amy imagined, already scolded Darien for being late and been unable to resist his courteous apologies and dimpled smile.

"I didn't see you in lecture," Amy said as Darien pulled on a lab coat.

"Yeah, had to schedule the 8:30 one, yuck."

Darien and Amy shared a special bond, probably because they were the only ones who could understand one another once the subject of science came up.

"Dr. Bonk's kind of awesome for a crusty professor, huh?"

"Shh," said Amy as the TA walked by.

Darien smiled to himself and quickly caught up to the page in the lab manual Amy was on. He said under his breath, "That TA's our age, but she's even crustier than Bonk."

Amy shook her head and continued with her work without replying.

"Are you still TA'ing?" she asked.

"Yeah, molecular bio. Ugh, freshmen."

"Yeah. At least I don't have to worry about them in my biochem lab."

"One of the guys in my frat is TA'ing that class. Maybe you've seen him around."

Amy had a sneaky feeling she had.

"His name's Zane?"

"Oh." Hoping to sound very casual, she said, "Yes, he's my TA actually."

"No kidding? Well, don't let him give you a hard time. I can tell you some secrets to blackmail him with if you like."

"_Darien_."

"Kidding. How is he so far? Oh shit, he was wearing pajamas yesterday, wasn't he!"

Amy hesitated, then nodded. "Frog ones," she said, cracking a smile.

"Aw, I bet he was so embarrassed. God, I wish I'd been there."

Darien had yet to hear from Zane about his chem girl, and left it at that, never suspecting that Amy could have said more on the subject of her biochem TA, and that her biochem TA could have said more on the subject of his crushing on his student. And that Darien's girlfriend was so right about her friends it could very well make his head explode.

* * *

"Lita!"

Lita was by no means unintelligent; she knew that Jed would not be hailing her so enthusiastically—practically knocking a passerby over in the process—if not for the fact that Raye was by her side.

Lita glanced over at the dark-haired girl.

"You know Jed?"

Raye simply shook her head and continued to walk, a little more quickly than before.

Lita's eyebrows went up. The smiling vivacity that had been in Raye's expression the whole afternoon slipped off, leaving a rather icy look.

In fact, Raye would have succeeded in beating a hasty retreat if Jed hadn't raced over to where they stood near their dorm entrance.

"Hey Jed," greeted Lita. "So, didja go to class today?"

Jed replied indignantly: "What kind of question is that? Did I go to class!"

Immediately repentant, Lita said, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I guess I was..."

"...Right on the mark," Jed replied with a grin. "Class, schmass—right Raye?"

Lita raised her eyebrows. "You two know each other?"

"Hey Raye," said Jed with a suave smile.

Raye seemed far more interested in the squirrels scampering across the grassy quad than in acknowledging Jed. "Hi."

"How's it going, Raye?"

"Fine."

"Do you ever use multisyllabic words, Raye?"

"Do you even know what multisyllabic means?" she asked coolly.

That surprised a laugh out of him.

"Raye and I are in "Ancient Ruins" together," he explained to Lita.

"The class is called 'Ancient _Civilizations_.'" Lita could have sworn she heard the girl add "moron" under her breath.

Ever buoyant, Jed only said, "Hey, you should come to our welcome back party this Friday. You too, Lita," he added generously. He stepped forward, closer to Raye and Lita was startled. Was it her or was the air getting a little warmer? "I'd love to show you around our house."

If Raye was aware of it, she gave no indication. "No thank you, I haven't been to the zoo since I was a little girl."

Jed smiled, but it was a slow smile, as if he was too distracted by her eyes and her pleasing profile to care for her insults.

The tension just hung there, and swung like a pendulum around them.

That is, until the tune to "Staying Alive" suddenly went off. "Oh shit, sorry, guys!" _Great time to call Dad_, Lita thought to herself. "It's my dad, I'm just gonna take this."

She stepped a few yards away and began to talk on the phone, leaving the two to glare at each other. Well, for Raye to glare.

"I should probably go too," said Raye.

"Lita's right over there. She's not gone, per se," Jed said reasonably.

"Well I should be. Gone, that is."

"Can I walk you back to your place?"

"This is it." Raye gestured to the dorm building right next to them.

"Oh, how convenient. Now you can invite me in."

"INVI-Oh yeah, you're right."

"I...am?"

"Yeah. Um, let me just tidy it up first, it's kind of messy, and you wait out here. How does that sound?"

"Yeah wow, that sounds gr-" Jed was cut off by Raye's swiping into the building and pulling the door shut behind her.

Which is when he realized that his ID didn't get him into the building.

* * *

"You coming Friday, Amy?" asked Darien as they packed up their things and returned the lab coats to their hangers.

"To what?"

"Our party, of course."

"Oh."

"Aw, you can manage a little more excitement than that." He nudged her with his shoulder, biting his lip at her reaction to the idea of a wild party. That was probably how most of his brothers would react to the microbio lab Amy had just hummed her way through.

"It's just not really my thing Darien. I was thinking of studying for biochem that night-"

"Amy, you can practice biochem AND microbio if you come."

"How's that?" Amy asked, suspecting STD's might be involved.

"Zane's a chem nerd, as you know, and he's brewing some of his own beer. You'd be interested in that, right?"

She was to a certain extent, but...

"I'll think about it."

"Don't worry, I'll get Serena to hound you, too. She's much better at it than me."

"That's very reassuring."

* * *

Nevan knocked only once before opening Lita's door.

"Hey!"

"Hey!" greeted back Nevan with a grin.

"No, not 'hey, how's it goin',' 'hey, I could have been changing or something, Nevan!'"

Nevan hopped onto the end of Lita's twin-sized bed and leaned against the white wall."Oh, sorry," he said, not sounding the least bit repentant. "But I'll file that away for later. And probably not change my knocking habits."

"You're such a pervert, Martinez."

"That's why you love me."

"What?" Her head shot up.

"What?"

"Nothing. Um, so wanna tell me why you're barging into my room?"

"For one, you didn't text me back."

"Sorry, I was..." Her unrelenting honesty got the best of her and she decided against making an excuse. "Sorry, I saw you texted me, but I got a little distracted. Besides, I figured you were busy with Molly so..."

"No, come on, I always have time for you."

"Oh. Th-thanks, Nev."

"No problem, Leets," he returned, chucking her under the chin affectionately.

Trying to hide the color rising in her face, Lita cleared her throat to ask: "So how'd you get into the dorm this time?"

"What can I say? I have a way with the first-floor ladies."

"So you ran in after someone before the door closed, not unlike a homeless person?"

"You say tomato, I say _tomate_. My text, by the way, was about your game Thursday."

"Oh yeah? You coming?"

"Hell yeah. Gotta see you guys squash those Rams."

Lita grinned. "Their defense is pretty amazing, but..."

"But they suck at shooting. Their point shoots like 30%! Compared to your 65%? No competition!"

Lita laughed and averted her face. They continued to talk basketball and practice and how Coach B. had been drilling her team with practices since they'd gotten back. They talked tournaments, March Madness, the new uniforms, etc. "Talking jock," as Mina would say.

"So, since I'm coming to your thing, you coming to mine?"

"What thing?"

"The party!"

"Oh." Lita twirled a rogue string from her comforter around her finger. "I'm not sure, I might need to catch up on homework since I've been practicing so much..."

"Homework on a Friday night? Come on, Lita, you need to cool off some, 'specially after the game. I'll get you good and drunk, no worries."

"How generous. What're you-?"

Nevan leaned in closer to her and her heartbeat picked up the pace. What was he... Nevan reached up and swiped two fingers through her hair. "Got a piece of paper there or something. Anyway, Kevin Sen will be there."

"Who's Kevin Sen?"

"Hello! He's the Indian kid in SigMu you said reminded you of your old boyfriend. He's single."

Lita only vaguely remembered said Indian guy. That seemed ages ago. Long before she started to see how Nevan, with his rough mannerisms and affectionate smile, was so different from her old boyfriend. How...

"Cool."

"I can hook y'all up if you want."

"I had no idea you were such a matchmaker."

"Anything for you, brah."

"Thanks...brah."

"So, what do you think about Molly?" Nevan asked as he snatched up Lita's basketball and spun it on his finger.

"She seems nice..." Lita tried, her words sticking in her throat.

"She's really cute."

"She is."

"I dunno, I always thought she was hot, but I just realized how sweet and fun she is. Maybe I'll be doing some hooking up at that party myself, huh?"

Lita gave a grunt that could be interpreted as one of agreement or an angry warthog.

"Speaking of which, I told her I'd meet her for some 'physics' again at 6. I'm hoping she meant 'physical'."

"You're disgusting, Martinez."

He merely shrugged. "I try. Wish me luck, Leets."

As the door closed behind Nevan, Lita flung her pillow at the door and fell back onto her bed with a sound of annoyance.


End file.
